Prison dilemmas
by
Marcel van Silfhout |
Belgian inmates to be imprisoned in a Holland jail
It’s odd news. Due to a lack of criminals, the Dutch have to close some prisons. During the 1990s Holland faced a shortage of prison cells, which was heavily debated at that time. But according to Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak, she is now confronted with an overcapacity of 2,000 cells and an extra 1,200 prison guards.
The country’s jails have a capacity to hold 14,000 prisoners but the current inmates’ population is not more than 12,000. One should consider this as good news because the crime rate in The Netherlands is declining. But right-wing opposition parties grumble. They say Albayrak doesn’t do enough to catch criminals.
Thanks to neighbouring Belgium, it is sending across 500 detainees who will be incarcerated in Tilburg prison in the south of The Netherlands. That will help keep open the jail for some time more, although eight other jails have to close their doors. For many years the right-wing politicians like Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party, Rita Verdonk with her so-called Proud of The Netherlands party, and the liberal MP Fred Teeven have attracted voters with their campaign calls for more police and penitentiaries to fight the assumed growing crime rate in the country. But, how can one plead for more jails and police when the crime rate is going down?
The answer is simple. The right-wing opposition parties might loose one of their political selling points if they admit the incidence of crime has been falling. They seem to prefer to ignore the facts and statistics and go on playing the populist electoral cards. Although it is understandable that it is difficult to change one’s political agenda overnight, it’s better for them to stick to the facts instead of making themselves fools.
Strangely, the trade union and the leftist Socialist Party have difficulties in accepting the positive news of declining crime. They complain about the loss of jobs. In order to save 1,200 prison guards’ jobs, the union and Socialists want the deputy minister to try to keep some prisons open. Sometimes the Dutch can be silly. This isn’t the best example of that silliness. Last week it was great fun in Rotterdam court where a case against five Somali pirates came up for hearing. They came in happy and laughing. Willem-Jan Ausma, lawyer for the 24-year- old pirate Yusuf, revealed that he never had a client like this person. “Yusuf is quite happy to be in prison,” Ausma said. “He is almost looking forward to being found guilty and sentenced. For the first time in his life he has access to a real toilet. He’s amazed that he has one in his own cell.”
Another pirate had a similar story. The 39-year-old Sayid said he had a good life in the Dutch prison. In Somalia he was a poor fisherman. Now he has good food, he can watch television and he can even play soccer. Since he is detained in Holland, Sayid wants to study in prison. “He loves it here in The Netherlands and hopes that he can stay here for ever and get his family over,” his lawyer said. After listening to the pirates’ stories as told by their lawyers, one forgets why they are in Holland. However, they stand accused of attempting to hijack the freighter Samanyolu in the Gulf of Aden on January 2. On board their vessel the pirates had Kalashnikovs and an anti tank missile. The attacked freighter had seven Turks and one Azeri on board, but they were sailing under the flag of the Dutch Antilles which are part of The Netherlands. Therefore, when the Danish Navy picked up the five Somali pirates, it handed them over to the Dutch authorities. One of the sailors on the Samanyolu, Denish Ivdik of Turkey, said he was still suffering from the trauma of pirates’ attack. “I can’t sleep at night and I have panic attacks.”
Last week local newspaper columnists had a dig at the empty Dutch prison cells. “Perhaps we can bring all the Somali pirates here to keep work for our prison guards” joked some columnists. “At least they like it here and there are enough pirates on the African seas to fill up our empty jails.” But Dutch Foreign Minister Verhagen was not as amused as the columnists when he heard about how much fun the Somali pirates were having in the Dutch prison and courtroom. Verhagen expressed his concern about pirate attacks at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels last week. He pleaded for a tribunal under the UN umbrella to try the pirates in an East African country, for example Kenya. Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia are in favour of setting up such a UN tribunal to try pirates and tackle piracy in the Gulf of Aden region.
It may not be a good idea to try the Somali pirates in Holland or some other western country because if the prison life turns out to be a blessing in disguise for the pirates, it will not be a punishment for them. Verhagen has a point when he said that trial should deter pirates and not encourage them with the prospect of starting a new life in the country that prosecutes them. Perhaps Europe can help build some prisons in Kenya with financial aid so that pirates detained on high seas can be tried there.
(Marcel van Silfhout is an investigative reporter working for public Dutch Television) |
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