New approach to relieve overcrowded prisons
The Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI) has been facing a serious capacity problem since autumn 2023. For the past eight months, State Secretary for Justice and Security Ingrid Coenradie has been pulling out all the stops to create additional capacity without extra funding. This has led to a break with past trends.
In order to structurally open up more space in prisons, the cabinet approved the following new measures on the proposal of State Secretary Coenradie:
- Where possible, more detainees are placed together in a cell, provided this can be done responsibly and safely for DJI staff. This effort will ensure over 100 more spaces this year.
- The possibility of opening an emergency prison at PI Zuid-Oost (Ter Peel site) next year is also being explored. That should yield 60 extra spaces. These are temporary spaces with a lower level of security.
- The DJI is investigating whether former JeugdzorgPlus institutions can be transformed into juvenile prisons. This would mean that young adults currently in the prison system could eventually be transferred to a youth custodial institution (JJI). The wards in PI Zeist and PI Almelo could then in turn be used for adults and are also suitable as locations for multi-person cells.
- In the longer term, the reopening of PI Almere is being explored and the construction of the Vlissingen Justice Complex has been completed.
- The DJI also continues to work very hard to reduce staff shortages. A ward with some 30 spaces in PI Nieuwegein will reopen in April. This ward had previously been closed due to staff shortages.
Despite these considerable efforts and new measures, the pressure on the prison system remains too high in the short term. To alleviate pressure and prevent arbitrary releases, the DJI will be given the latitude - if genuinely necessary - to let prisoners with sentences of up to one year, excluding sex offenders and perpetrators of serious violent crimes, out early by maximum 14 days. This is always tailored to the situation and as a last resort.
State Secretary Coenradie: "I am happy that we are creating more capacity with multi-person cells as soon as possible. Despite this huge effort, I still have my back against the wall and have to make very painful choices. But without this intervention, police cells remain overcrowded and there is the risk that suspects and convicts will be released arbitrarily. I cannot and will not accept that scenario. At the same time, I am working very hard with the DJI to find sustainable solutions, but I cannot create cells and additional staff out of thin air.”
State secretary Coenradie already wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives last December that there was a 'code black' situation in the prison system and that releasing prisoners early was a real possibility. Specifically, 'code black' means an occupancy rate above 99.5% at the Custodial Institutions Agency (DJI) and that arrested persons are systematically being left in detention at police stations. There is also a growing pool of arrested persons and self-reporters who have yet to serve their sentences. At first, this capacity problem was mainly due to staff shortages, now it is mainly a shortage of cells. This is due to rising occupancy as a result of longer detentions and an increase in hospital order transients and young adults in the prison system. The shortage is even larger due to scheduled, necessary renovations.