Dutch prison system strained by hundreds of costly foreign detainees at Ter Apel
Out of a total of 9,230 detainees in the Netherlands, about 9 percent are individuals without the right to reside in the country, De Telegraaf reports. In the only prison specifically for criminal foreigners, PI Ter Apel, all 443 cells have been fully occupied over the past six months. Occupancy, according to caretaker State Secretary Arno Rutte (Justice, VVD), is “above 99 percent.”
Across the country, there is a shortage of prison space. In September, the Custodial Institutions Agency counted more than 800 detainees from outside the Netherlands without a valid residence status. They could be rejected asylum seekers, individuals with expired visas, or EU citizens who have been declared undesirable. Housing one prisoner costs an average of 399 euros per day, according to the Custodial Institutions Agency. The price for housing these undesired foreigners in prison totals 300,000 euros each day.
Recently, several high-profile cases involved rejected asylum seekers sentenced to long prison terms. For example, a rejected Palestinian asylum seeker who tried to rob a 70-year-old woman in Groningen in 2023 and stabbed her to death was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
“Foreigners serving a criminal sentence in the Netherlands cannot simply evade their sentence,” the Ministry of Justice states. “According to the law, the so-called execution duty applies: sentences must be served here, unless there is a transfer or suspension of the sentence.”
TBS clinics, which provide psychiatric detention, also see their capacity partly filled by foreign residents. There are 160 “non-Dutch TBS patients.” Of that group, 50 people reside illegally in the Netherlands, according to IND figures.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said the prison cell shortage “is a much broader problem” than just criminal foreigners and that the current pressing situation is mainly caused by “a shortage of staff.”
Reopening closed prisons would cost a significant amount of money and take years, State Secretary Arno Rutte said earlier. The ministry is also examining parliamentary proposals to create more multi-person cells and to set up a detention boat. Later this year, Rutte will provide an update on these plans and the prison cell shortage.
