Teens in juvenile detention are not getting proper education

Teens who are incarcerated in juvenile detention are receiving poor education. This makes it hard for them to return to school, find a job, or get their life back on track when they get out. The result of this is that the chances of repeat offending are increased. The Dutch Education Council issued this warning.

The council said that the youth detention centers struggle with staff shortages. The programs are limited during the day and the materials are out of date. It is difficulty to take exams within the detention centers, and the detainees are often also not allowed to go to another location to take an exam.

In some cases, the young people are released after having served their sentence, and have to return to the youth detention center to take their exam. Some people decide to not take an exam in this case, and “then a chance is lost,” said the education council. They are pleading for more flexibility when it comes to exams.

Prison schools currently have to deal with three ministries: justice, education, and public health. These all have their own departments, with their own rules, their own systems, and they all supervise the situations at various moments in their own way.

The Dutch Education Council advises to better coordinate the working methods of the ministries, so that the education and treatment of young people is improved and "unnecessary duplication of work is prevented.”

The Youth Detention Centers are in Breda, Nijmegen, Spijkenisse, Lelystad, Sassenheim and Veenhuizen. They have a total of 527 places all together. There are also smaller centers in Amsterdam, The Hague, Groningen, Venlo, and Krimpen aan den IJssel, these all have eight places each.

Around 1,500 to 2,000 young people are temporarily locked up in these centers every year. This is usually for a few weeks or a few months, but some young people spend years there. They have a right to an education, but they are not allowed outside due to their punishment. Therefore, they need to be taught within the building.

Their educational level ranges from practical education to senior pre-university education.