Vlaams Belang notes that other parties too proposal to house convicted foreigners in cells in the Balkan country of Kosovo verbatim to take over. “Al After all, we have been advocating for it for years regarding to follow the Danish example,” says MP Marijke Dillen. “So long criminal aliens continue to serve their sentences in this country, there will be no end to overcrowding in our prisons.”
In our penal institutions, in addition to the staff shortage, overcrowding is also a structural problem that has been going on for years. “The current prisoner strikes certainly did not come out of the blue. These people are forced to work in dangerous and inhumane conditions,” Dillen said. “The dramatic situation in our prisons undermines the entire functioning of the Justice Department. It is more than time to tackle the problem of overcrowding at its source and ensure that our cells are no longer 40 percent populated by people who do not have our nationality or are even in the country illegally.”
“Convicted criminals can no longer stay in Belgian prison cells”
Vlaams Belang is therefore pleased that other parties are also starting to see the light today. In 2021, three years earlier than Theo Francken (N-VA), Dillen already proposed taking an example from the initiatives of the Danish government in the search for space in our overcrowded prisons. “The Danish Minister of Justice Nick Haekkerup then decided to house convicted foreigners in prisons in Kosovo, and then send them back to their country of origin,” said the Vlaams Belang MP. “Unlike the Belgian socialists, the Danish socialists sometimes had good ideas.”
“To combat continued overcrowding and thus avoid a lot of aggression and violence within prison walls, not only prison capacity must be expanded, but the existing infrastructure must also be better used,” Dillen concludes. “That is why convicted foreigners can no longer stay in Belgian prison cells.”
