Information, topic by topic, on prisons across the world

January 24, 2023

Netherlands: Ultra-secure prison to get its own courtroom

News

Europe Justice Facilities Netherlands

A courtroom will be built within the Extra Secure Institution (EBI) in Vught, where the country’s most serious convicted criminals and suspects are detained.

May 31, 2022

Netherlands: prison guard arrested for abusing at least three female detainees

News

Women Europe Violence Netherlands

A 47-year-old prison guard has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing at least three female prisoners in Nieuwersluis jail.

April 14, 2022

Netherlands: walling up madness

Analysis

Europe Access to legal rights Discipline Mental health Drugs Material conditions Netherlands

Both in its European and overseas territories, care in prisons is administered by the Ministry of Justice. Around 60% of prisoners present with at least one mental disorder. Prisoners suffering from severe disorders have to be placed in Extra Care Facilities (Extra Zorgvoorziening, EZV) present in…

December 23, 2021

Netherlands: Why the Dutch are closing prisons – and what they’re doing with empty ones

News

Culture Europe Facilities Netherlands

The Netherlands has reduced its prison population to such a degree that it’s now turning old prisons into socially useful buildings, such as schools and refugee centres. What went right?

June 17, 2021

The Netherlands: "Going Dutch" – taking care of forensic mental healthcare

Analysis Opinion

Culture Justice Mental health Material conditions Netherlands

ICPR and Prison Insider asked several experts worldwide to share their insights in the framework of the project ‘Understanding and reducing the use of imprisonment in 10 countries’. Michiel van de Wolf discusses the Dutch approach for dealing with those considered as mentally disordered offenders.

July 22, 2020

Netherlands: A bigger market for electronic ankle monitors

News

Coronavirus North America Europe Justice Alternatives Netherlands

Corrections centers are stocking up on electronic monitors as they release prisoners due to Covid-19.

December 13, 2019

The Netherlands: Why are there so few prisoners ?

News

Europe Netherlands

The Dutch justice system is cutting jail populations by offering specialist rehabilitation to people with mental illnesses.

April 9, 2019

Netherlands: better prison food could be key in reducing re-offending

News

Europe Material conditions Netherlands

The Netherlands should look to Scandinavian examples and allow more prisoners to prepare and cook their own food, because there is evidence that they are less likely to re-offend, according to research carried out by the justice ministry.

June 26, 2018

Pays-Bas : forcés de fermer des prisons car il y manque de détenus

News

Europe Netherlands

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

April 25, 2018

Netherlands: the unique way the Dutch treat mentally ill prisoners

News

Health Mental health Netherlands

In the Netherlands, criminals with mental illness are treated completely differently to many other countries. Melissa Hogenboom visits a Dutch prison to find out how.

February 9, 2018

Holanda debate suprimir la pena de cárcel por insultar al rey

News

Netherlands

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the Spanish version.

July 11, 2017

Pays-Bas : faute de criminels, l'incroyable prison de Breda accueille... des entreprises

News

Europe Netherlands

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

June 26, 2017

The Netherlands: converting prisons into homes for refugees

News

Netherlands

Unlike the United States of America, the prison population and crime rate in the Netherlands has been steadily decreasing for years. As a result, the country’s government is repurposing correctional facilities into housing for refugees who are waiting to be granted asylum status — a process that us…

June 15, 2017

Holland: one dead after fire breaks out in a cell at Scheveningen prison

News

Netherlands

One person has been killed after fire broke out in a cell at the high security prison in Scheveningen, news agency ANP said on Thursday.

April 3, 2017

Les Pays-Bas cherchent une utilité à leurs prisons vides

News

Europe Netherlands

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

March 22, 2017

Pays-Bas : fermer les prisons pour mieux les rouvrir

News

Europe Netherlands

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

February 15, 2017

Pays-Bas : les prisons mettent la clé sous la porte

News

Europe Netherlands

This article is not available in English. If you wish, you can consult the French version.

February 12, 2017

United Kingdom: half of Scottish prison deaths in the last five years remain "unexplained"

News

Netherlands

Since 2013 64 people have died in Scottish jails with the reasons still unknown, leaving their families trapped ‘in limbo’.

February 9, 2017

Netherlands: Dutch get creative to solve a prison problem

News

Europe Netherlands

The Netherlands has a problem many countries can only dream of: a shortage of prison inmates. While countries like Belgium, Britain, Haiti, Italy, the United States and Venezuela have grappled with prison overcrowding, the Netherlands has such a surplus of unused cells that it has rented some of it…

February 8, 2017

Netherlands (Sint Maarten): inmates file injunction against Justice Minister

News

Netherlands

The Inmates Association with lawyer Sjamira Roseburg of Sulvaran and Peterson law firm is taking Government to court because the safety of the inmates at the Pointe Blanche prison cannot be guaranteed and the living conditions are terrible, according to Roseburg on Tuesday.

January 4, 2017

Netherlands: electronic tagging more popular: orders double in five years

News

Netherlands

Electronic tagging is being increasingly used as a punishment in the Netherlands, particular for people convicted of robbery and drugs-related crime.

November 10, 2016

The Dutch prison crisis: a shortage of prisoners

News

Netherlands

While the UK and much of the world struggles with overcrowded prisons, the Netherlands has the opposite problem. It is actually short of people to lock up. In the past few years 19 prisons have closed down and more are slated for closure next year. How has this happened - and why do some people thi…

July 6, 2016

Netherlands : Dutch prison population falls 27% to 11,000 in five years

News

Netherlands

The number of people in prison in the Netherlands fell by 27% between 2011 and 2015 to just over 11,000, according to new figures from the justice ministry’s prison department.