After visiting Antwerp Prison on Friday, leader of the Flemish far-right Vlaams Belang party Tom Van Grieken stated that, as a rule, Belgium should send any non-Belgian person sentenced to prison in the country back to their home country.
Referencing figures requested from Federal Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne at the end of March, Van Grieken said that more than 40% of the prison population does not have Belgian nationality and sees his proposal as a way to tackle prison overcrowding.
"Even more striking is the fact that three-quarters of them are simply in the country illegally and should actually be deported," Van Grieken mentioned. In the run-up to the elections next year, Vlaams Belang – known for its strong anti-immigration stance – has ramped up its rhetoric even more recently.
As a lot of countries are not eager to take convicts back to serve their sentences in their home countries, Van Grieken stated that a country which does not fulfil its duty "should not receive a cent more of development aid and we should put permanent pressure on it."
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Belgium, however, has started to tackle the issue of its overcrowded prisons differently, such as by encouraging alternatives to detention where possible, building more prisons and increasing the capacity of existing ones.
By 2030, four new prisons will open in Belgium: one in Antwerp and three in Wallonia. This will create extra 900 prison places to relieve the overburdened system, bringing the total number of prisons in Belgium to 41.
Critics, however, state that a "solution" of building more prisons only serves to increase a nation's prison population and argue that the solution to overcrowding lies in reforms to the entire criminal justice system, moving towards more constructive and non-custodial sentences and improving access to legal counselling.
