The first prisoner in the Netherlands to be diagnosed with coronavirus was discovered in the prison hospital ward in Scheveningen, the correctional facilities agency DJI confirmed on Thursday. No prisoners in the Netherlands have been allowed visitation since Saturday, with some exceptions.
Prisoners are allowed meetings with their attorneys, but appointments need to be made in advance at least through April 6. Juvenile detainees are still allowed visitation with their parents and guardians.
The Dutch government will pay compensation to victims who faced violence and sexual abuse while under the care of youth care, sources confirmed to NOS. Ministers Hugo de Jonge of Public Health and Sander Dekker for Legal Protection already offered the government's apologies for what happened to these victims.
The Dutch government wants to stop surgeries carried out in the Netherlands to restore the hymen of women and girls because such operations fall under harmful practices that do not fit with the norms and values of Dutch society. The government also plans to put down in law that child marriages conducted abroad will no longer be recognized in the Netherlands, NOS reports.
A suspicious letter was found in Maastricht on Wednesday, after two mail bombs exploded in Amsterdam and Kerkrade earlier in the day. There was no explosion in Maastricht, the Limburg police said on Twitter. Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection called the blasts "worrying". "As far as we can see now, there are no victims, no injuries. So that's great," he said to De Limburger. "For the rest, the police must investigate."
The Forced Adoption hotline received 500 reports since it opened in October, Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection confirmed to NOS. The hotline is part of two investigations into Dutch mothers who were pressured into giving their child up for adoption between 1956 and 1984. An estimated 15 thousand children were given up in this way, according to the broadcaster.
Minor suspects of a criminal offense should not be detained in a police cell and that principle must be laid down in the law, the council for the application of criminal justice and youth protection RSJ said in advice to Ministers Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security and Sander Dekker for Legal Protection, NRC reports.
Currently, Dutch law allows children from the age of 12 who are suspected of a crime or violation to be detained pending questioning. In the case of serious crimes, they can be kept in custody for up to three days if the police investigation demands it.
Eight forensic care institutes are taking the Ministry of Justice and Security to court. According to the clinics, there is currently too little budget for them to effectively treat dangerous patients with a mental or psychiatric disorder. The shortages in the clinics are increasing and that can create dangers for society, the clinics said, RTL Nieuws reports.
Organizations in the Netherlands that promote a threat to the democratic way of life in the Netherlands should be more easily banned from operation in the country, said Sander Dekker, the Minister for Legal Protection. He introduced legislation on Friday to contravene "radical or extremist organizations" which "seriously threaten society or wish to overthrow legal order," the Ministry of Justice and Security said in a statement.
The government is working on creating room for mayors to be able to warn each other about criminal entrepreneurs, without violating confidentiality obligations or privacy legislation.
From next year, Netherlands residents and businesses who suffered collective damage, for example through a car or another product that's been tampered with, can go together to court to get their damages compensated. A new law by Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection, which allows these class action lawsuits, takes effect on January 1st.
Currently, joint proceedings only allow for a judge to make a ruling, for example on whether a company acted lawfully. No compensation can be claimed. If the ruling is in the victims' favor, they have to arrange the compensation themselves.
Divorced parents who keep a child away from another parent against the rules must be tackled by the police, according to the D66 and SP in a proposal to Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection. Police officers must also receive extra training on how to deal with such conflicts, the parties said, the Telegraaf reports.
The Ministry of Justice and Security launched a campaign to prompt victims of sexual violence to seek help. 22 percent of women and 6 percent of men in the Netherlands have been forced to perform sexual acts at least once, but many victims don't dare to talk about it, NOS reports.
The government is giving the Public Prosecution Service more money to hire more coordinators to support victims of violent crimes, Minster Sander Dekker for Legal Protection said in a letter to parliament. The number of these coordinators will eventually double from 40 to 80, NOS reports.
The coordinators assist victims and relatives through legal proceedings. They help victims make their wishes known in the criminal proceedings and they provide information about the rights that those involve have. They can also refer victims to Victim Support Netherlands if they need it.
The Dutch cabinet is considering a reversal of its policy of decentralizing youth care services following a harshly critical report from the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate. The report, produced with the Ministry of Justice and Security, said that staffing levels in the sector are far too low making it difficult or impossible for families to get help in dealing with either complex issues, or a multitude of issues.
In the near future, violence against a police officer or other first responders will always be punished with a prison sentence. Ministers Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security and Sander Dekker for Legal Protection will submit a bill on Monday that prohibits punishing this crime with community service or a fine..
Currently only perpetrators of serious violence and sex crimes are always punished with prison, and never with community service.
A report stating that Amsterdam is losing the fight against organized crime led to alarmed and shocked reactions from politicians in The Hague. Parliamentarians call on the government to invest more into combating this issue, the Telegraaf reports.
The report stated that the authorities have little insight into drug economy and -crime, that the police have basically given up the fight against drugs, and that the judiciary is failing to tackle real crime structures.
Prisoners serving sentences of institutionalized psychiatric care may soon have to wear an ankle monitor when they are on leave from the psychiatric clinic treating them. Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection announced that the government will experiment with this starting in the fall, RTL Nieuws reports.
The electronic monitoring tool is currently only used in the prison system. The ankle monitor keeps track of where the wearer is, recording his or her movements.
One in 20 elderly people in the Netherlands face abuse. Ministers Hugo de Jonge of Public Health and Sander Dekker for Legal Protection launched a television campaign to increase awareness on how to recognize and report the abuse of the elderly people. New commercials for the campaign will start appearing on television this week.
The Fivoor clinic in Den Dolder, from where dangerous psychiatric prisoner Peter M. escaped on Saturday, agreed with Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection that it will send in daily reports about everything that happened at the clinic for the next three months. The forensic psychiatric clinic also promised to immediately report anything out of the order happening, the Ministry of Justice and Security, which covers Legal Protection, confirmed to AD.
The Ministry for Legal Protection implemented a number of extra measures and stricter rules for psychiatric institutions that treat prisoners following the murder of Anne Faber, Minister Sander Dekker said in a letter to parliament. The 25-year-old woman was raped and killed by Michael P., who was being treated by such a clinic at the time for the last part of the prison sentence he received for raping two minor girls.
With the help of a new computer system, the Dutch police managed to track down and detain 585 people who still had to serve a prison sentence in the past seven months. A new app allows police officers to immediately check whether someone they stop still have outstanding penalties against them, and immediately take them into custody if they still have to go to prison, AD reports.
Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection called reports that psychiatric prisoners may be involved in the killing of a 72-year-old man in his Lelystad apartment "disturbing".
The victim was found dead in his home on Sunday. The police believe he was killed somewhere during the weekend of April 19th to 21st. Two men aged 48 and 35 from Almere were arrested for involvement in his murder.
The police arrested a second suspect in connection with the death of a 72-year-old man in his Lelystad home. Like the first suspect arrested in this case, 35-year-old Michael B. was previously sentenced to institutionalized psychiatric treatment, the Telegraaf reports.
72-year-old Gerrit Thomassen was found dead in his home on Rode Klif in Lelystad on Sunday. On Monday the police arrested 48-year-old Jan van K. on suspicion of involvement in Thomassen's death.
Minister Sander Dakker for Legal Protection acknowledged in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday that he bears political responsibility for mistakes made in the treatment of Michael P., the man who raped and murdered 25-year-old Anne Faber from Utrecht in 2017. At the same time he asked parliament to trust him to also solve the problems. He survived the debate, NU.nl reports.
"I feel the responsibility in my every fiber", Dekker said. "One of my most important tasks is to protect society from people like Michael P."
