Starting in 2010, Belgium rented 650 spots in Tilburg prison in the Netherlands, at a cost of 30 million euros per year. The government announced that the contract would end in 2016. Inmates from Wortel prison were transferred to Tilburg. The project was a failure, and in 2012 the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) criticised the climate of violence in the prison. The maintenance of family ties and reintegration into society proved difficult, and some French and Arabic-speaking prisoners found themselves isolated in an almost entirely Dutch-speaking environment.

The prison service is overseen by a Federal Public Service (FPS), with a territorial split along regional linguistic lines: there is a Dutch-speaking regional directorate in the north, and a French-speaking regional directorate in the south. Inmates are assigned based on the language they speak.

There is confusion surrounding the division of responsibilities between the federal government and federated entities.

There are three types of prison regimes, generally grouped within different wings of the same prison:

• Open regime: inmates can move freely within the prison (Hoogstraten, Ruiselede, Saint-Hubert and Wortel).
• Closed regime: inmates are confined to their cells, and allowed out for visiting hours, work and activities. The majority of prisons are under this regime.
• Semi-open regime: this combines features of the two other regimes (Marneffe and Merksplas).

Open and semi-open regimes are often seen as a favour granted to the prisoner, that can be withdrawn at any time.

Prisons are divided into two categories: maisons d’arrêt for prisoners awaiting trial or sentencing, and prisons for those who have been sentenced. In practice, numerous prisons house both of these populations.

The Federal Public Service Justice records a total of 34 prisons: two in Brussels, 16 in Flanders and 16 in Wallonia. According to our count, there are actually 38 prisons¹:

• 34 men’s prisons, including:
  • Eight women’s sections within men’s prisons
  • Two special sections for mineurs dessaisis², at Tongres and Saint-Hubert
• One women’s prison (Berkendael)
• One social protection establishment (établissement de défense sociale, EDS) in Paifve
• Two forensic psychiatry centers, in Ghent and Antwerp

As of 2016, the smallest prison, Tongres, had 25 cells and an average of 21 inmates. For that same year, the largest prison, Lantin, had 694 cells and an average of 905 inmates (latest published figures).

The older prisons are generally located within towns and cities. The newer prisons, built in the 1990s, are situated either on the outskirts of towns and cities or in rural areas - making access more difficult for staff, visitors, families and lawyers.

Prison officers receive a 13 week training program comprised of theory classes and fieldwork, carried out at the Prison Staff Training Center in Marneffe. No academic qualifications are required to begin training. Participants must be at least 20 years of age and hold Belgian nationality. Trainees are sometimes used in staff roles to make up personnel shortages.