Former Haarlem prison transformed into higher education institution

The old Koepel prison in Haarlem has officially gotten new life. The monumental building now serves as an educational stronghold for Haarlem Campus, and the first students start next week, NH Nieuws reports.

Haarlem Campus is a private higher professional education institution offering three bachelor’s studies and one master’s. It plans to eventually become a full-fledged University College.

The plan to turn the former prison into a place for learning was launched in 2016. Not everyone immediately embraced the plan, but Haarlem campus director Timo Timmerman and the other initiators persisted until they got permission to renovate the massive monumental building.

After a few years of work, its doors opened earlier this year. And on Friday, the first students got a tour of their new school. “It’s beautiful. I knew it was a prison before I came here, but I was so surprised walking in. It is very impressive,” one student said to NH Nieuws.

Another called it “genius” that the prison cells now function as small study rooms. The students come from 27 countries, including a few from the Noord-Holland region itself.