Almost 700 prisoners have already been released early to ease overcrowding in the country’s prisons

On Monday 25 November there were 12,809 inmates incarcerated in Belgian prisons while there is only capacity for 11,020. Overcrowding is said to have reached an “historically high level” and as a result of this, 198 inmates are forced to sleep on the floor.

In March the Justice Department introduced a system of “extended prison leave” in an effort to address the issue of overcrowding. Extended prison leave is only granted under certain conditions, e.g. being no more than 6 months from the end of their sentence and having papers entitling them to reside in Belgium.

In addition to this in order to be considered for extended prison leave, the prisoner may not have been sentenced to more than 15 years and must have served at least one third of their sentence. Those convicted of terrorist offences or sex crimes are excluded from the extended prison leave system. Since the system was launched in March 696 prisoners have been granted extended prison leave. In some cases, they alternate between spending a month in prison and a month at home. 

In Brussels’ prisons 8.73% of prisoners are currently on extended prison leave. In Flanders and Wallonia this is 4.50% and 4.66% respectively.

At Sint-Gillis prison in Brussels 15.42% of prisoners are on extended prison leave. At Hoogstraten prison in Antwerp Province this is 10.29%. The detention centers at Kortrijk (West Flanders) and Vorst (Brussels) have the highest percentages of prisoners on extended prison leave (24.71% and 32.47% respectively). This is because only prisoners that have been given short sentences are sent to detention centres.

The unions say that releasing prisoners early does not provide a structural solution to the issue of overcrowding, as those given extended prison leave still require guidance from the prisons’ psychosocial service