Netherlands to shut down prisons due to lack of criminals

6/19/09 While more than 2 million people sit behind bars in America's federal and state prisons, the Dutch prison system cannot fill its 14,000 prisoner capacity. With only 12,000 places currently being filled, the Dutch government announced last month it may be closing eight prisons due to a shortage of criminals. Many assume this is a result of the Netherlands liberal policy on drugs and prostitution.

J.L. Pole, a taxi driver in Amsterdam, said that the difference between the country's prison populations reflects a difference in culture. "Here things are controlled--drugs, prostitution. If you make prostitution illegal then there will be rapes and bad stuff in back alleys. In this setting everything is controlled." Pole said he believed that the American system, criminalizing "everything" has caused fear and made crime rates rise in the United States. "People in Amsterdam are not afraid, we do not carry guns. In America you want a house with a big fence and a guard dog, so people are afraid and there is more crime."

However, a report released by Statistics Netherlands and the Ministries of Internal Affairs and of Justice in March 2009 showed that 25 percent of the Dutch population did not feel safe, even though crime has decreased by 6 percent since 2005. The number of people who say they often do not feel safe or sometimes do not feel safe has fallen almost every year since 2005, but the downward trend did not continue at the into 2008.

Rob Heuvel, GVB (public transportation of Amsterdam) Security said he believed that Amsterdam and the Netherlands as whole are not any safer. "There are no less criminals, just less people going to prison. It is not safe here, because bad people who should be locked up are not. There is a sense that you can do anything here." Putting his hand in front of his face, Heuvel explained that the police "see like this, they see what they want to see."

Jose Reyes, a waiter at one of the bars in Dam Square, across from the palace, said he sees everything--people drinking in public (which is illegal in the Netherlands), smoking marijuana outside the coffee shops (also illegal), assault, and robberies. While, he was explaining all of this a man was running around a monument in his boxers, diving flippers, and Heineken in hand, screaming at the top of his lungs. Two police officers looked on and laughed. Reyes put his hand in front of his face as Heuvel did and explained, "This is how the police see. They do not want to stop tourist. Tourist can do anything, locals might get arrested though."

While, the lack of arrests may explain the lack of prisoners, there has been a change in the sentences imposed over the past few years. Heuvel said America's stricter sentences for crime were the differences between the populations in prisons. "In America if you murder someone you go to prison for life, but here four years, maybe eight if it is really bad," he said. The NRC Handelsblad, a daily paper, reported that in the 2004-2007 period, the total length of prison sentences was down by a quarter, almost half of which is explained by shorter sentences for violent crime: from an average of 300 to 260 days per offense. At this same time, acquittals have gone up 80 percent, from 3,761 in 2002 to 6,833 in 2007. During this time the prison population decreased from 17,600 in 2005 to 14,500 in 2007.

One police officer in the city of Amsterdam, who did not have time to identify himself before he was called away, said that the decrease in the prison population was due to an increase in other forms of punishment. "Like in America, they wear orange and clean highways, we do that too, and ankle bracelets. Many people are prisoners in their homes." According to Handelsblad the Dutch government has actively encouraged community service, because it is a less expensive alternate to imprisonment. The Dutch prison system currently costs the government E1B per year. In 2007, community service accounted for 30 percent of prison sentences, 44 percent in other measures (electronic surveillance, fines and/or suspended sentences) and only 20 percent resulted in an effective prison sentence.

While, the crime rate may be down in the Netherlands, it appears that sentencing has also taken a steep decline. The police officer said he did not necessarily see it as a bad thing. "Now we can rent out the extra cells to Belgium--they have too many prisoners. It would be good for the economy," he said. The Netherlands is considering a E30M deal to transfer some five-hundred Belgian prisoners to the Tilburg prison by 2010. This would also stall the layoff of some 1,200 prison employees.