Government concludes prison agreement with the Netherlands

Prison, au pairsPrison: Photo:Pixabay

After the detention queue has settled, there is no longer a need to rent prison spaces in the Netherlands, the government reported on Wednesday.

 

The Government decided not to extend the contract for Norgerhaven jail in the Netherlands, which expires on the 31st of August, 2018.

“Renting prisons in the Netherlands has been a success. Now the detonation queue has been slashed, and the agreement has provided room for maintenance and rehabilitation of prisons in Norway’’, said a press release from Justice, Preparedness and Immigration Minister, Sylvi Listhaug of Fremskrittsparti (Frp).

The agreement with the Netherlands entered into force on the 1st of September, 2015, and until the 15th of February, 2018, a total of 936 sentenced persons had been transferred to Norgerhaven jail in the Netherlands. Of these, 568 convicts were transferred on their own application, while 368 were transferred without their own consent. Two out of three current inmates are foreign nationals.

The background for the deal with the Netherlands was the former queue in Norway.

In 2013, the queue included over 1,200 people, and many had been waiting for a
long time. Listhaug pointed out that the queue for prison places must still be held down.

“Until Agder prison opens in 2020, we will take advantage of the opportunity to put two inmates on one cell as far as necessary. This is something that the trade union supports’’, said Listhaug in the report.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today