Belgium's prison system has been condemned as "disastrous" by senior lawyers, almost four weeks
into a strike by warders. And the dispute, involving penitentiaries in Brussels and French-speaking regions, shows no sign of being resolved.
Some of Belgium's top judges and lawyers gathered outside Brussels' Palais de Justice on Friday to protest against what they say is the government's long-term failure to fund a creaking justice system.
Belgium's prisons have long been infamous for poor conditions and overcrowding.
"Security is terrible, conditions are mediaeval," says one former inmate at Forest prison, one of Belgium's most notorious institutions not far from the centre of Brussels.
A Belgian convert to Islam named Abourayan, he spent several weeks in the jail in 2014 and 2015, while on trial on charges relating to terrorism.
"Prisoners can get hold of anything they want there: iPhones, drugs, anything," he told the BBC.
The building was antiquated and completely unsuitable for housing hundreds of high-risk prisoners, he complained.
Riot police officers at the office of Justice Minister Koen Geens during a protest of prison guards on May 17Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
"Two wings of the prison have never been renovated; the cells have no running water," he told the BBC. "Drainage problems mean the place is infested with rats, cockroaches and mice."
The prison is overcrowded: currently 360 inmates live in a space designed for 280. Conditions are tough in normal times, but more than three weeks into the strike, things are desperate for the inmates, says Mr Spronck.
"They can only exercise for half an hour every three days. Medication is not being distributed effectively and there are no family visits."
0 মন্তব্য(গুলি):
Post a Comment