Holland will close four prisons - despite IMPORTING prisoners from other countries


Holland is to close four jails amid a fall in crime - despite importing prisoners from other countries to try and fill them.

The Dutch government is considering the closures after it emerged that crime rates are now at their lowest since 1980.

There are now just 49 crimes reported for every 1,000 citizens, national statistics office CBS revealed earlier this year.

A planned round of 19 closures in 2013 sparked so much anger among prison workers that the government started to 'import' prisoners from other countries, including Norway and Belgium, in the hope of keeping some open.
According to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, sources have identified which prisons will be shut by justice minister Sander Dekker under a new wave of cuts.

Jails in Zoetermeer, Zeist, Almere and Zwaag in Noord-Holland are all due for the axe, the paper reports.

However, prisons in remote or rural areas will be saved amid fears closure would hit local jobs.

Algemeen Dagblad reported that a third of Holland's 13,500 prison beds lay empty in 2017 making cuts inevitable.

Dekker has yet to comment on the report but is set to reveal his views on prison capacity before parliament's summer recess.


SOURCE: dailymail
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