Authorities struggle to manage inmate who held staff hostage in Vught prison
Dutch authorities are facing renewed challenges managing a 29-year-old inmate from Ede after he held three prison staff members hostage last Friday evening at the Vught penitentiary. Petra Breukink, his lawyer, informed AD that her client poses a significant risk to himself and others.
The inmate previously held four employees hostage in Café Petticoat in Ede a year ago, threatening to blow up the street, a pattern of dangerous behavior reportedly stemming from "complex psychiatric problems," as his lawyer described it.
He has spent nearly twelve months on the psychiatric ward at Vught because all TBS clinics in the Netherlands are currently full. Meanwhile, ordinary prisons house 250 inmates who require psychiatric care but cannot access it.
During Friday’s incident, special emergency services intervened, and the inmate was placed in isolation until December 20. Breukink said he appeared exhausted but calm before entering isolation. “He is exhausted but calm. He is sad. He was and is despondent. And I must say, I am too,” she said.
The court had recommended TBS with compulsory psychiatric treatment during his Petticoat trial, and his prison sentence matched his pre-trial detention. The victims of the Ede hostage case emphasized back then that he primarily needs rapid access to psychiatric care.
Breukink described the blocked TBS system as inhumane. "Corné faces imminent danger if he does not receive assistance." But there are many more like him, waiting in a hopeless situation without perspective. It is just a matter of time until it goes wrong again,” she said.
She also criticized authorities for repeatedly refusing treatment, citing that he was “too complex” or “too expensive” to manage. “Consider the Petticoat incident: the social costs—the evacuation of stores, closure of homes, train disruptions, and massive emergency response—were enormous. Multiple people like him could have been treated for that cost,” she said.
The cause of Friday’s incident is still under investigation. Breukink said he will be interviewed by a police detective trained to handle vulnerable suspects.
“[He] himself finds it terrible that he has harmed others again,” Breukink told AD. “He remains a patient with grave and complex psychiatric problems, and the lack of treatment options continues to create dangerous situations for everyone involved.”
