'Unacceptable conditions': Belgian prison workers begin five-day strike

A five-day strike has begun in all Belgian prisons as trade unions protest against persistent overcrowding, staff shortages and problems relating to infrastructure and security.

The strike action started at 22.00 on Sunday and will continue until the same time on Friday. Because it will last longer than two days, prison management will call in prison officers as needed when there are insufficient volunteers to maintain minimum staffing levels.

Prison unions have long been sounding the alarm over structural issues, especially overcrowding, which has led to a large number of inmates sleeping on the floor.

Conditions in the prisons are leading to safety issues, the unions have warned.

“The workload is far too high, and the conditions in which prisoners live and staff work are unacceptable,” said Robbie De Kaey of the ACOD trade union.

De Kaey said that despite two rounds of emergency measures from the government, most of which focus on Brussels, there was still no structural improvement.

He us also sceptical about one particular measure: the wider use of electronic tagging - sometimes known as house arrest - for those serving short sentences.

De Kaey said that while this could help get people out of prison more quickly, the measure concerns about 2,000 people with sentences of up to 18 months who have not yet started serving their sentences, and therefore are not contributing to the current overcrowding situation.

There are also exclusion criteria, and De Kaey questioned whether there were even enough electronic tags available to deploy the measure.

Unions also warn that the opening of a new prison in Antwerp will not solve all the problems. Almost 600 prisoners would remain at the Antwerp facility on Begijnenstraat, which has capacity for around 450, and some of the staff will be moving to the new prison.

They also believe the process of recruiting additional staff to address shortages has started too late.

“The situation is not under control,” De Kaey said, emphasising that justice minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) must once again approach the federal government to request additional resources and measures.

The trade unions said that they had continued to call for concrete solutions to the systemic issues facing Belgian prisons.

“The same issues came up time and again: overcrowding, mattresses on the floor, dilapidated buildings, and even unsanitary conditions at times,” said Grégory Wallez, federal secretary of the CGSP-Public Services union.

“Working conditions for staff in such institutions are becoming unbearable, and I’m not even talking about the conditions in which the prisoners are held.

"Frankly, it’s shameful of the Belgian state to leave people in this state, even if they’ve been convicted and must serve a prison sentence. We find this unacceptable. Enough is enough."