A 24-hour strike at Haren Prison in Brussels ended peacefully on Monday at 10.00 p.m., with 85% of staff participating, according to public service union SLFP official Eddy De Smedt.
The work stoppage began on Sunday night in protest against overcrowding, staff shortages, and recent assaults on prison officers by inmates.
Union representatives report that 167 inmates sleep on the floor at Haren Prison, which houses 1,393 despite being designed for only 1,190.
Belgium’s prisons reached new levels of overcrowding on Monday, with 763 inmates nationwide now sleeping on mattresses on the floor, 13 more than the previous week, according to figures shared by unions.
Flanders and Wallonia each have 298 inmates sleeping on the floor, while 56 are doing so at Antwerp Prison. Marche-en-Famenne and Ghent each report 49 such cases.
In Brussels, all floor sleepers are at Haren.
Belgium’s prisons currently hold 13,497 inmates, whereas the system is designed for approximately 11,000.
Unions have long demanded action to address the overcrowding and last month, the Federal Government approved a measure allowing inmates serving long sentences to be released six months early, subject to court approval.
