By C1 Staff
NETHERLANDS — As many countries struggle with prison overcrowding, the Netherlands is seeing the opposite: a low level of recidivism and the closure of prisons due to a lack of inmates to fill them.
In the last couple of years, 19 prisons in the Netherlands have closed and more are set to shut down in 2017, the BBC reported.
“In the Dutch service we look at the individual,” Deputy Governor Jan Roelof Van der Spoel told the publication. “If somebody has a drug problem we treat their addiction, if they are aggressive we provide anger management, if they have got money problems we give them debt counselling.”
According to the publication, the country had one of the highest incarcerations rates in Europe a decade ago, but the rate has dropped 43 percent, with only 57 people per 100,000 incarcerated.
Van der Spoel said re-offenders are put in rehabilitation programs specially made for them. Less than 10 percent return to prison after release, according to the publication.
“We try to remove whatever it was that caused the crime. The inmate himself or herself must be willing to change but our method has been very effective,” Van der Spoel said. “Over the last 10 years, our work has improved more and more.”
Dutch prisons have outdoor space, with trees, tables and sports areas for inmates to exercise in. Inmates are allowed to walk freely to different areas of the prison. Van der Spoel said fresh air reduces stress levels and the independence makes it easier to adapt to life after their sentence.
Judges, who are offering alternatives to incarceration like community service, fines and electronic tagging of offenders, are also a factor in the drop.