In Ghent, an attempt is made to offer the detainees the walk. In the other prisons, the detainees have to stay in a cell for 24 hours and there is only food distribution. The police are present in several places.
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The 24-hour strike started on Sunday evening at 10 p.m. During the morning shift, the strike was “followed very strictly”, says Kathleen Van De Vijver, spokeswoman for the Prison System. In Bruges, Dendermonde, Ghent, Leuven Central, Mechelen, Merksplas, Oudenaarde, Sint-Gillis, Vorst, Turnhout and Wortel, the target figure of the model plan, which should regulate the minimum service in prisons, was not achieved.
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In principle, there is only room for more than 9,500 detainees in the 35 penitentiary institutions in our country, but at the moment they number 10,700, which means that there is actually no room for 1,200 prisoners.
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To alleviate the worst need, extra beds have been added, but the staff is not following, according to the unions. Moreover, the staff fear that this situation will not be temporary, as Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open Vld) promises, but permanent. “There is great distrust among the staff,” said Robby De Kaey of the socialist trade union ACOD on Sunday.
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Tonight at 10 p.m., a 24-hour strike will start in French-speaking prisons.
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