Europe's prison overcrowding crisis: 'Like rats in a cage'

Brussels, Belgium – Bilal, 34, has spent 10 years in five different prisons across Belgium. He remembers most the 19th-century Mons prison, where a 9-square-meter cell held three to four people. Scabies, bedbugs, and monkeypox spread widely, and guards were exhausted. “In 10 years of prison, everything has only gotten worse,” Bilal told Al Jazeera. “They cut outdoor time and activities.”

Belgium, one of Europe’s wealthiest nations, is grappling with an increasingly severe prison overcrowding crisis. In mid-May, its 39 prisons held 13,733 inmates, far exceeding a capacity of 11,064. “Overcrowding is increasing, coupled with staff shortages, which makes the situation very, very, very difficult,” warned Pieter Houbey, vice president of the Central Prison Oversight Council (CCSP). “It’s nearly impossible to maintain a detention system aimed at social reintegration.” 754 inmates were sleeping on floor mattresses, up from 672 in December.

Across Europe, the prison population has surged after the COVID-19 pandemic, with overcrowding affecting one-third of prison systems. The highest occupancy rates are in Cyprus, followed by Slovenia, France, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Austria, and Belgium.

“To ensure decent conditions, first you have to respect their rights — meaning stop treating them like rats in a cage,” said Yasin Sarikaya, vice president of Brussels prison. Inmates, especially those on remand, are often locked in cells 22–23 hours a day, exacerbating a lack of privacy, health issues, and substance abuse. Access to medical support can take months.

Loic*, 23, serving his third sentence in seven years at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, said there are almost no jobs or organized activities. “It will be very difficult to re-enter the labor market,” he said. Bilal, convicted of bank robbery and conspiracy to murder, said he had suicidal thoughts during his detention. In recent years, videos have circulated of inmates being tortured in cells by five cellmates while guards went on strike.

These conditions reinforce staff shortages. At Haren, the country’s largest prison complex, “some guards have been injured and cannot come to work,” Sarikaya said. The number of serious incidents in prison doubled over one year. Although overall crime rates fluctuate, experts link the situation to Belgium’s criminal justice policy and efforts to crack down on drug crime. The recent increase mainly stems from a 2023 decision to enforce all sentences of up to three years, previously largely served under electronic monitoring. The average detention period is now 9.9 months — a 39.4% increase in five years. Belgium’s remand rate is 32%, above the European average of 24.7% in 2024.

Last July, the Belgian parliament passed an emergency law encouraging alternative penalties for sentences under three years and allowing prison directors to release inmates sentenced to up to 10 years six months early. Long-term, the government plans to install modules and renovate old prisons pending new construction. However, this is unlikely to reduce overcrowding, according to An-Sofie Vanhouche, a criminology professor at the Free University of Brussels. “Research shows the more prison space we have, the more people we send to prison.”

As part of a tough immigration policy, Belgium also seeks to deport inmates without residence permits, who make up about one-third of the prison population. Earlier this year, Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden traveled to Estonia to discuss renting cells. The government is also targeting Kosovo and Albania. Belgium is not the only European country considering such arrangements. Sweden has reached an agreement to rent 400 prison cells from Estonia. In 2019, Denmark reached a deal to rent 300 prison cells from Kosovo. Vanhouche described these moves as “very populist and symbolic,” having limited impact but raising many ethical questions about inmates' rights. The Belgian Justice Ministry, as well as those of Sweden and Denmark, did not respond to requests for comment. Estonia’s Justice Ministry said “inmates remain protected under existing European human rights standards and international law.”

Critics are calling on Belgium to focus more on social reintegration rather than just security. “Prison leads to recidivism,” warned Tahar Elhamdaoui, founder of the NGO Collectif Desistance. According to Houbey, Belgium’s recidivism rate is 60–70%. Thanks to Elhamdaoui’s organization, Bilal is now interning as a football coach. Loic* is trying different jobs when allowed out during the day. But that is not the norm, Elhamdaoui cautioned: “As long as no prison prepares people to succeed outside, we will not only create more criminals when they get out, but also create such deep despair that people cannot reintegrate.”