Young people who have committed serious offences should not be sent home due to a lack of space in community institutions. Instead, they should temporarily be placed in detention centres, according to two Flemish MPs for the Christian Democrats CD&V party.
In a press release, Flemish MPs Toon Vandeurzen and Katrien Schryvers call it "a disgrace to our constitutional state" that "young people who commit armed robberies or drug trafficking end up back on the streets because the institutions are full."
At the same time, the Flemish detention centre in Beveren is often empty, they point out. In 2024, there were no admissions, and between October 2024 and May 2025, the centre remained completely unused for eight months.
The infrastructure remains operational, even when no one is staying there, at a fixed annual cost of €23,000, supplemented by €40 per young person per day. "We are investing taxpayers' money in an empty facility, while juvenile judges are coming up against the limits of the system. That is unjustifiable," said Vandeurzen.
Where lies the problem?
The two MPs do, however, impose a number of conditions on the accommodation of young people in the Flemish detention centre.
"For example, temporary accommodation can only be provided for young people who have committed serious offences, if there is no place available in a community institution and if the judge explicitly rules that staying at home is not an option," Schryvers said. "The stay in the detention centre should last no longer than two weeks, until a place becomes available in a community institution."
Additionally, the MPs question the high number of admissions to community institutions. "In 2024, there were 1,355 admissions in Flanders – almost as many as in the Netherlands, where there are almost three times fewer minors. Flanders, therefore, places more than twice as many young people per capita in these institutions."
"Are our young people really that much more criminal? Or does the problem lie elsewhere?" they said, emphasising that it is "problematic" that Flanders has no insight into this. Therefore, they are asking Flemish Minister of Justice Zuhal Demir (N-VA) to conduct an investigation.
