Interview

Belgium: regular crisis and health crisis

A never-ending crisis.

Belgian prisons, already criticised for their dilapidation and incarceration conditions, have been closed off since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Actions like suspending family visits and halting activities, taken in an attempt to slow down the epidemic, have significant consequences for the prisoners’ daily lives.

Olivia Nederlandt is a research professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. As part of a special report on the COVID-19 crisis, she published an article called “Rights of Those Incarcerated During the Pandemic: When the Ordinary Crisis is Coupled with a Health Crisis.” Prison Insider sits down with her to ask a few questions.

Belgian authorities have implemented three types of measures concerning correctional facilities.

The measures aiming to reduce the prison population could be deemed insufficient.

The prison population was not considered a priority population.

The article

Nederlant (O), “Rights of Those Incarcerated During the Pandemic: When the Ordinary Crisis is Coupled with a Health Crisis.,” e-legal – Revue de droit et de criminologie de l’Université libre de Bruxelles, special edition COVID-19, 2021.
Available online.