Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals

By our news desk The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.

During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees.

Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said.

The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry's research department expects to continue for some time.

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Happens here, too. Yakima County closed its new jail a year ago. In 2009 there was the fiasco of Hardin MT leasing it's empty, $27 million jail to a fly-by-night security company.

On the local level, however, petty criminals thumb their noses at the community because there's no jail space.