Minister Demir overcrowding Antwerp prison: “Alternative punishments are an easy solution” | Antwerp
The minister responds to this the control body of the prisons wrote about that prison three weeks ago. One of the solutions suggested by the body was the use of more alternative punishments.
Minister Demir does not just go along with that conclusion. “The overcrowding of prisons in this country is an old problem and the situation in Antwerp is bursting at the seams. But it absolutely cannot be the intention to transfer all the capacities of the prisons to the Flemish Center for Electronic Supervision and to the Flemish Justice Houses, without taking the consequences into account. Automatically carrying out alternative sentences as punishment for a crime because the prisons are full is not the way we should go.”
permanently there are 1,488 individuals under electronic surveillance. Two years ago there were 1,081. Today, 301 people have an ankle bracelet because they are in pre-trial detention. The Demir cabinet also points to an increase in people who, in the prospect of their trial, may be released under certain conditions. There are 540 files in the judicial district of Antwerp. That is a decrease compared to 2020, but more than in 2019.
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