The Dutch government said that the country's prisons are so full that there is no room for new prisoners. As a result, from next week, lawbreakers will be released early, Ingrid Kunradi, State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and Security, told parliament in The Hague today, quoted by DPA, BTA reported.
Kunradi said that she is in talks with Estonia to see if cells can be rented there. For now, the goal is to reduce sentences by three days, but this period should be extended to one week. It is also possible that some sentences will be completely canceled, Kunradi specified. "I can't rule out that option, it's that bad", she added.
All other measures have already been exhausted, Kunradi said, with even the cells in police stations being filled to capacity. The reasons for the shortage of places in prisons and police stations are reportedly a lack of staff and the longer sentences that Dutch courts are currently handing out.
Many people have already been released early, and in some cases, the serving of sentences by prisoners has been postponed until a cell becomes available in some prisons, DPA notes. Just a few years ago, the Netherlands had too many empty cells, which led to the closure of a number of prisons.