Prisons run through public-private partnerships (PPP) in Belgium have not been sufficiently monitored, according to a report from the Belgian Court of Audit, which blamed the understaffing of two public institutions.
The Belgian Buildings Agency and the Ministry of Justice reportedly lacked the personnel needed to carry out inspections of the prisons' management contracts.
Neither institution had the necessary staff to properly monitor and inspect the prisons, with the tools they used deemed "too complex and voluminous" and "unsuited to the day-to-day management of a prison." This situation has also left each PPP prison having to rely on using their private partner's management software.
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These public-private partnership prisons were established by the Belgian Government in 2008 in response to the overcrowding and deteriorating institutions at the time.
The government had chosen to turn towards PPPs as they had limited budgetary means to renovate them. As a result, a private company would design, construct, finance and maintain the prison for an annual fee paid by the state for 25 years.
15 years into the contract, the Court of Audit was asked to draw up a report on these PPP prisons but concluded that the partnership had been less than satisfactory and not financially viable enough for the state to justify the previously mentioned logistical difficulties.
