"Increasing the prison capacity is not in itself a durable solution to the problem of overpopulation. Indeed, it has been observed in many countries - including Belgium - that the prison population tends to increase as the prison capacity increases," reads the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture's 2010 report to the Belgian government.

The committee's assertion, supported by experiences in Belgium and abroad, sounds very strange in light of the prison policies of successive governments. These policies include introducing nine new "master plan prisons," some of which are already operational.

Among these projects is the project in Haren, which aims to develop the largest prison complex in the country (1,190 detainees on 18 ha). Presented as a "penitentiary village" in the northeast of Brussels, it will receive male and female detainees and replace the prisons of Saint-Gilles, Forest and Berkendael.

This project cannot provide answers to the problems it is supposed to solve, and even creates new ones. This is what 10 associations have tried to demonstrate during a press conference late last month at the Palace of Justice. The organizations came together to form the "Platform for solving the prison disaster," which demands the immediate cessation of the mega prison project in Haren.

The 10 associations have given numerous and complementary reasons to scrap the Haren project:

Laurent Moulin from the Haren Committee:

“Since we heard about the mega prison project, we have continued to question elected officials but have never received clear answers. We want to maintain the semi-rural character of Haren and the mega prison makes this impossible. We already welcome many infrastructures (NATO, Ring, SNCB, Infrabel, an airport) that increasingly enclose on a territory that the new master plan for Brussels specifically intends to keep open. We want to preserve green public spaces, essential to the empowerment of people. Our elected officials have never explained why they chose this place in view of a serene operation of justice or good environmental integration."

According to Claire Scohier from Inter-Environment Brussels, this project raises many questions in terms of planning of the land:

“A prison project, especially if it is the largest prison in the country, cannot be done as a closed block without thinking of the environment, just be a block placed in the middle of a field. How is it going to live with its environment? Will there be an additional barrier for local residents forced to travel several kilometers to circumvent this block? How will judges, lawyers, prisoners' families and other visitors access it? Why not renovate the prison of Saint-Gilles, which is more central? Is the objective of the building management board to improve the conditions of detention or to make gains in real estate by selling the expensive land where Saint-Gilles is and replacing it with the inexpensive land in Haren?”

Alexis Deswaef, president of the League for Human Rights, said there is a broad democratic deficit surrounding the project:

“This parliamentary debate on successive mega prisons has serious democratic shortcomings. The lack of objective data and figures, particularly as regards the costs of the prison infrastructure and the use of public-private partnership, has been pointed out by the Court of Auditors. Throughout the process of developing the project, not one of the actors involved in the project—magistrates, lawyers, prisoners support services—was consulted for a project so gigantic that it presents many issues, including the quality of the detention.”

Recalling the long-standing problem of prison overcrowding and its disastrous effects on prison life, Nicolas Cohen, vice president of the International Observatory of Prisons - Belgium, explained that it is not possible to pursue a policy which has amply demonstrated its inefficiency:

“An expansionist criminal and prison policy is counterproductive and problematic. We ask for an integrated approach that engages all stakeholders and turns resolutely to a reductionist policy. We request the freezing of any new prison project to avoid a headlong rush, as we have seen for several years.”

While it is based on extremely shaky foundations, the project also poses many practical problems, some of which are prohibitive. Hervé Louveaux of the Trade Union Association of Magistrates:

“The project provides, for example, the possibility to hold hearings in prison. It will be impossible to gather all the people whose presence is required and the necessary equipment adapted to the organization of hearings. A judge, for example, should devote several hours to be present at the hearing, given his daily journeys, sometimes for a single file. It is not practical and involves unacceptable restrictions to the rights of the accused.”

Besides its many adverse effects, the project will lead to the irreversible destruction of 18 hectares of potentially arable land. Florence Kroff of the FoodFirst Information and Action Network - Belgium:

“The share of arable land in the Brussels-Capital Region is reduced, and it is essential to preserve these lands from development, especially if it concerns an infrastructure whose uselessness is demonstrated. These lands, or at least most of them, could play their natural role (water absorption, thermal regulation, etc.) while allowing access to quality, locally produced food. This is a major challenge, considering the dependence of cities on their immediate and remote peripheries to feed themselves. To concrete 18 hectares of potentially arable land is an irresponsible waste.”

The "Platform for solving the prison disaster" forwarded its declarations to all Belgian politicians and asked for an appointment with the relevant ministers: Charles Michel, Koen Geens, Jan Jambon, Rudi Vervoort, Celine Fremault and Pascal Smet. The press will be informed of changes in claims and future activities of the platform.

More on the "Platform for solving the prison disaster" can be found here.