Drop in criminality in the Netherlands delivers unexpected revenue

Belgium has come to an agreement with the Netherlands to rent prison cells, at a prison in the Dutch city of Tilburg, as a solution to overcrowding in its own penitentiaries. The agreement will compensate for the shortage of cells across Belgium. Belgium's prisons currently hold 10,400 inmates - nearly 2,000 more than capacity. The Netherlands, on the other hand, has around 2,000 empty prison cells thanks to a significant drop in crime since the beginning of this century. According to the Dutch Ministry of Justice, the Netherlands is putting the Tilburg prison and its personnel at Belgium's disposal in order to accommodate at least 500 detainees over a three-year period. The prison will be staffed by both Dutch and Belgian personnel, but the prison director will be a Belgian. Some thirty-five inmates from Wortel Prison in Belgium are already incarcerated in their new cells in Tilburg. Belgium will pay around 30 million euros per year under the three-year agreement.
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