Justice Minister plans to increase capacity in the country’s prison by 2,037 in the next 5 years

Currently, 55 million euro has been assigned to relieving overcrowding in Belgium’s prisons. However, the total amount required to create more than 2,000 additional places in our prison is estimated to be more than 1 billion euro. The aim is to have increased capacity by 1,105 places by 2027 with a further capacity increase of 932 by 2030. After 2030 capacity will be increased further to accommodate an additional 1,044 prisoners. These figures could be modified according to the funding that is available.

Speaking on VRT Radio 1’s morning news and current affairs programme ‘De ochtend’, Ms Verlinden said “Indeed it is an ambitious plan, but the urgency is particularly great. Day after day we hear about over-crowded prisons and pressure on prison staff. This has implications for the security of both prison officers and prisoners”.  

Ms Verlinden plan was approved by the federal cabinet on 18 July.

“We will keep older prisons open for longer, provide new prisons and also focus on small-scale detention and rehabilitation centres. This will enable us to work on the reintegration of prisoners”, Ms Verlinden said.

As ambitious as the Justice Minister’s plan might be, just over 2,000 additional places alone will not solve the issue of prison overcrowding. “More is indeed needed, but this would require a fundamental debate about criminal justice and the penal code”, Ms Verlinden told the VRT.

But there is another problem too. The Federal Government’s Easter Agreement allocated 55 million euro to the Justice, Home Affairs, Asylum and Migration and Health departments to finance initiatives to tackle prison overcrowding. The cost of Ms Verlinden plan is estimated more than 1 billion euros.

“In order to achieve this, I will need the support of the whole of the government to provide additional resources. I am aware of the budgetary challenges the country faces, but safety and security are important challenges”.