A meeting between the Cooperation Committee and the local management of Leuze prison took place on Wednesday afternoon. The lack of staff and prisoner arrivals were the main topics on the agenda. On the 15th of December, the penitentiary center will accept a maximum of 140 prisoners. During the meeting, which lasted 3 hours, the permanent members and union delegates of Leuze-Hainaut prison (CGSP, SLSP and CSC) debated with the local management of the penitentiary center about changes in integrating prisoners and about the staff necessary to run the prison.
“Today, there are 89 prisoners and 150 full-time wardens. Tomorrow, Thursday, we will get 15 new prisoners, mainly from Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels. The current goal is to fill the first two aisles, C1 and C2. At the most, there will be 140 prisoners on the 15th of December”, David de Temmerman from the CSC explained on Wednesday evening.
“There is no way we are opening the 3rd aisle, especially as we might receive people in preventative detention (…) In 2015, we can fill up the prison if we have enough staff. No change in staff is currently planned”, he added.
With the increase in the number of prisoners, the concerns of the unions have also changed. There are currently only three nurses, whereas there are facilities for eight. Everything is blocked on this level at the moment. In our psycho-social department, in facilities for 10 staff, there just two social workers and two psychologists. “We will have nobody from the justice department. We have only been given a part-time psychologist”, the unions said. Another meeting between the parties has been planned for the 11th of December.
(Source: Belga)
