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Belgium

Capital city — Brussels

  • Country population

    11,476,279
    i
    01/2020
    / SPF Intérieur
  • Incarceration rate (per 100,000 inhabit…

    95
    i
    2019
    / World Prison Brief, ICPR
  • Type of government

    Parliamentary monarchy
  • Human Development Index

    0.916

    (17/188)

    i
    2017
    / UNDP
  • Homicide rate (per 100,000 inhabitants)

    1.9
    i
    2017
    / PNUD
  • Name of authority in charge of the pris…

    Ministry of Justice

    The official name…

  • Total number of prisoners

    10,883
    i
    12/2019
    / World Prison Brief, ICPR
  • Average length of imprisonment (in mont…

    Data not disclosed

  • Prison density

    121 %
    i
    12/2019
    / World Prison Brief, ICPR
  • Total number of prison facilities

    35
    i
    2020
    / World Prison Brief, ICPR
  • An NPM has been established

    no

    The Civil Society…

  • Number and percentage of female prisone…

    4.4 %
    i
    12/2019
    / ICPR
  • Incarcerated minors

    0.6 %

    The latest availa…

    i
    2013
    / ICPR, derniers chiffres disponibles
  • Untried prisoners

    35.6 %
    i
    09/2018
    / World Prison Brief, ICPR
  • Death penalty is abolished

    yes, since 1996
    i
    it had not been applied since 1950
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Year2020
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For more information

Key Websites¶

  • The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT)
  • The Belgian department of the International Prison Watch
  • The Human Rights League (Prisons Division)
  • The Liga voor mensenrechten

Reports¶

  • Le Guide du prisonnier en Belgique, ed. Luc Pire, OIP et LDH, 2016, under the supervision of Marie-Aude Beernaert, Philippe Mary and Marc Neve
  • “Brussels mega-prison: origin of a crime “
  • Report from the International Prison Watch on the state of the Belgian prison system, 2016
  • Notice from the International Prison Observatory on the state of the Belgian prison system, 2013
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