The pressure on the Belgian prison system has reached critical levels, and the government is analyzing options to solve it
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The Belgian government is evaluating the possibility of transferring part of its prison population abroad, in a context where immigrants account for about 43% of all inmates.
This percentage far exceeds their demographic weight and constitutes one of the central factors behind the political debate on prison overcrowding and migration policy.
The pressure on the prison system has reached critical levels. According to the Central Council for Prison Surveillance, the country houses 13,689 detainees in approximately 11,040 places, with inmates sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Faced with this reality, the Belgian executive is seeking alternatives that would allow it to free up capacity and simultaneously reinforce its migration and security criteria.
Cárcel belga.
The Minister of Justice, Annelies Verlinden, together with the Minister of Asylum and Migration, Anneleen Van Bossuyt, led an official mission to Kosovo and Albania to analyze the possibility of building or renting prison facilities outside Belgium.
According to The Brussels Times, the agenda included discussions on cooperation regarding organized crime, human trafficking, money laundering, and the recovery of criminal assets linked to Belgian investigations.
The background of this initiative is directly related to the composition of the prison population. In addition to the fact that foreigners represent 43% of inmates, 31% of them do not have a residence permit.
Inmigrantes ilegales.
“Anyone who is illegally in our country and decides to commit crimes must leave, either to their country of origin or to a prison outside Belgium”, Van Bossuyt told local media.
The government insists that transferring even part of this segment of the prison population could alleviate the saturation of national prisons and, at the same time, more closely link migration policy with the enforcement of criminal sentences.
However, as is often the case in these situations, "human rights" and left-wing organizations have already warned that they're going to oppose the initiative, especially if it involves sending inmates, even if they're foreigners, to countries with prison standards below those of the EU.
