Like other Western European countries, Belgium is dealing with an influx of foreigner prisoners, with nearly half of all inmates made up of foreigners. Of the total number, there are 13,400 Moroccans, which make up 10 percent of the prison population. Now, Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden will make an official visit to Morocco this Thursday to transfer these convicts to Morocco.
However, if the past is any guide, Morocco will not take these prisoners willingly. Verlinden will meet her counterpart, Abdellatif Ouahbi, where her priority will be the transfer of convicted persons of Moroccan nationality to their homeland.
“It is therefore essential to increase the possibilities allowing these people to serve their sentence in Morocco in order to ease the pressure on our prison system while guaranteeing consistent execution of sentences,” she said in a press release.
If these transfers were not possible in the past, new agreements have been concluded with the Moroccan authorities, added Verlinden.
According to her, “The results are also starting to be felt, the Belgian justice system having already prepared 33 cases in recent months.”
“Thanks to more intense and open dialogue, cooperation is going better and better. A better mutual understanding of administrative and legal conditions has developed, which considerably speeds up the processing of files. At the same time, Belgian justice continue to actively prepare dozens of additional files,” she said.
🇩🇪 In many German states, half the prison population is now made up of foreigners.
🔺Germany spends €1.8 billion a year on its exploding foreign prison population, out of a total of €4.1 billion.
🔺Foreign national prisoners are mostly from Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan,… pic.twitter.com/XBA4XpV7UQ
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 9, 2024However, 33 cases may only be a token gesture offered by Morocco in order to give the Belgian government a positive headline. The justice minister may have a significantly harder time transferring the rest of the over 13,000 prisoners back home.
The continent’s foreign inmate surge has been linked to prison overcrowding in Western Europe, according to a report from the Council of Europe.
“Prison administrations like Switzerland (72 percent), Greece (54 percent), Austria (53 percent), Catalonia (50 percent), and Germany (49 percent) report extremely high proportions of foreign inmates,” the report noted.
