Netherlands
Seen in the press
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Netherlands: Dutch prisons praised for approach to mental health
The prison system in the Netherlands is often used as a model for other countries because of their success in reducing the number of people in custody whilst also reducing the crime rate by cutting reoffending. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has now produced a report that supports their work a…Netherlands: additional measures due to lack of cells, convicts sent to prison later
Due to the shortage of prison guards, outgoing Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal Protection) is taking two additional measures to reduce the pressure on prisons acutely. For instance, people who still have to serve a prison sentence of up to two months will have to do so at a later date.Netherlands: nearly 160 prison workers fired for integrity violations in four years
From 2020 to 2023, nearly 160 prison employees in the Netherlands were dismissed for corruption, smuggling drugs or phones into prison, having a relationship with a detainee, or leaking sensitive information. Another 170 were punished in other ways, RTL Nieuws reports based on its own research.
Netherlands: better prison food could be key in reducing re-offending
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.
The Netherlands: converting prisons into homes for refugees
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…Netherlands: Dutch get creative to solve a prison problem
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…
Netherlands (Sint Maarten): inmates file injunction against Justice Minister
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.