An attempted break-in at Haren Prison in Brussels on Sunday failed ‘"thanks to our security infrastructure," a prison spokesperson said on Monday, confirming information published in La Libre Belgique and Sudinfo. The police have opened an investigation.
"Four people tried to break into the prison on Sunday evening to retrieve a parcel. Only one of them managed to get past the prison walls," Stijn Vandenabeele, president of the Brussels section of the SLFP public sector union, told Belga News Agency.
The individuals, who were hooded, fled before they could be arrested, La Libre Belgique reported. According to an internal source quoted by the newspaper, the package could contain a firearm, "given the risks taken."
"The unions have repeatedly asked that the police carry out night patrols around the prisons," Mr. Vandenabeele said. "Given the shortage of staff in the prisons, it is difficult for us to react to such situations."
‘These kinds of drops inside prisons are very common. They happen every day in Belgium," said Grégory Wallez, General Secretary of the CGSP, which also represents public sector workers.
"These things do happen, unfortunately," said Valérie Callebaut, spokesperson for the prison administration. She stressed, however, that it is now “punishable under criminal law.”
Since the beginning of this year, anyone committing this type of offence is liable to between 15 days and one year in prison and a fine of up to €500.
Haren Prison, the largest in the country, has a number of shortcomings, the trade unionists point out.
‘It's a prison that was opened in a hurry to accommodate those accused of the Brussels attacks" in 2016, Gregory Wallez said, adding: "It hasn't done its job."
