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Belgium: in prison, prisoners soon… part-time?
In Belgium, prisons are overcrowded. The half-time track for prisoners was mentioned.
(France 2)
In a note, the Belgian Ministry of Justice recommends granting leave to prisoners: every other month. The country is also faced with the issue of overcrowding in its prisons.
Inmates on mattresses on the floor, cells full to bursting. In Belgium, there is a shortage of around 1,500 places in prisons. “It’s more than sad, it’s been three years since everyone said that the implementation of small penalties would cause a tsunami”, indicates Denis Bosquet, criminal lawyer. But the prison administration thinks it has the solution: send the inmates home. In a note, the Belgian Ministry of Justice recommends granting leave to prisoners: every other month.
“This will concern between 250 and 300 people”
The unions are not convinced. “This will concern between 250 and 300 people. For us, This is not what will fundamentally reduce prison overpopulation.”, specifies Yannick Vincent, federal secretary of the CSC union. Of the 12,000 Belgian prisoners, Only those sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison, who have already completed several successful leaves of absence, would be eligible, and those detained for terrorism or sexual assault are excluded. Faced with overcrowding, nine prisons in the country are now refusing new inmates.
