Antwerp –
Several people were injured yesterday afternoon during a serious fight in the overcrowded prison in Antwerp’s Begijnenstraat. The police mobile unit and rapid response team had to intervene to restore order.
Wednesday April 24, 2024 at 12:22
The incident in Begijnenstraat took place on Tuesday during the walk. According to reliable sources within the prison system, the problems started after all kinds of goods were thrown over the prison wall by unknown persons. Some detainees tried to obtain those goods, causing a fight.
Knives were then thrown from various cells, causing the incident to quickly get out of hand. Several detainees suffered stab wounds. Lawyers who were in prison at the time of the incident saw how a heavily bleeding detainee had to be removed.
The prison notified the police services. The Mobile Unit (ME) and the rapid response team (SRT) of the Antwerp police arrived on site to restore order and peace. The riot police and the SRT had to take about eighty detainees back to their cells.
The incident has once again caused tensions in Antwerp’s Begijnenstraat, the most overcrowded prison in the country. It currently houses approximately 670 prisoners, while there is capacity for just over 420 detainees.
In Belgian prisons, about eighty detainees are forced to sleep on the floor. Half of those ground sleepers are in the very outdated prison in Begijnenstraat. The guards’ unions took action this week.
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