Unions who are dissatisfied with the increased aggression against prison staff will initiate a week of strikes in Flemish prisons starting Sunday evening.
Prisons in Ghent and Oudenaarde will start the chain of protests by striking from 22:00 Sunday until 22:00 Monday. Moving from East Flanders to Antwerp, 24-hour strikes will commence Monday evening in Merkplas and Turnhout and Tuesday in Antwerp.
Employees at the prison in Bruges will then stop work from 22:00 on Wednesday until 22:00 on Thursday. Finally, there will be a strike in Hasselt on Thursday evening and Friday.
Last Thursday, a meeting took place between the unions, the prison system and the cabinet of Minister of Justice Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD), but no agreements were reached. The conversations will continue in the week of February 12.
According to Robby De Kaey of ACOD Government Services, the aggression problem can be traced back to the overcrowding of the prisons and inmates who have been declared incompetent and end up incarcerated due to a lack of space in healthcare institutions.
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