The director of Haren prison, Jurgen Van Poecke, is resigning from his post in protest against overcrowding and staff shortages. “I would have been happy to see out my career here, but not under these circumstances,” Van Poecke told De Tijd. “I came here because I liked the direction things were going, but that has now changed completely.” Haren prison is the largest correctional facility in Belgium with a capacity for 1,129 inmates, but overcrowding means that 279 people are sleeping on mattresses on the
floor. While authorities plan to address the sleeping situation by adding bunk beds to cells, Van Poecke said this is skirting the real issue, adding: “In that way, we’re institutionalising the overcrowding.” The director said he expects the consequences of the current overcrowding crisis will continue to reverberate. “A perverse logic has emerged: the harder we try to survive, the more the impression is created that things are still manageable. But it’s destroying people,” Van Poecke said. “I have greatly enjoyed my role, but no
longer under such circumstances.”
Haren prison, Jurgen Van Poecke, resignation, overcrowding, staff shortages, Belgium correctional facility, inmates sleeping on floor, bunk beds