Belgian prison population reaches new record

Belgium's prison population stood at 9,804 in 2008 and has been growing ever since. In fact, the Belgian prison population has been growing for decades now. Belgium's prison building programme cannot keep step with demand.

Figures from the Justice ministry say that there is only room for 9,592 people in Belgian gaols. Prison capacity needs to be expanded by a fifth.

The prison population has surged ahead because of the increase in the number of remand prisoners. Many prisoners are also having to stay in prison for more of their sentence and are not being released as early as before. This is especially the case for long term prisoners.

Spokesman for the Belgian penitentiaries Laurent Sempot: "Our country has one of the largest remand populations in Europe."