Belgium Pays €2 Million Monthly for Empty 440-Cell Antwerp Prison
The Belgian government is paying nearly €2 million per month in rent for a brand-new, state-of-the-art prison in Antwerp that remains completely empty — while the 170-year-old facility it was meant to replace continues to operate with nearly 70 inmates sleeping on the floor.
Keys to the new Antwerp prison on the Blue Gate business park were handed over on April 20, 2026, to the Regie der Gebouwen (Belgian Buildings Agency). Since that date, the government has been paying an availability fee of €5.9 million per trimester — roughly €2 million per month — to the private consortium Hortus Conclusus that built the facility, according to Het Laatste Nieuws. The payments will continue for 25 years before ownership transfers to the government.
A Prison Built, But Unusable
The 440-cell facility — divided into units for 330 men, 66 women, and 44 in a medical center — is physically complete. Yet it will remain vacant until at least September 2026 due to a combination of administrative hurdles, technical issues, and a severe staffing shortage.
“A technical problem has emerged about which Justice first wants clarity from the Buildings Agency,” said Kathleen Van de Vijver, spokesperson for the Prison Service. “Only when that is resolved can the invitations for the inauguration go out.”
An official inauguration had been planned for June 19 with Minister of Justice Annelies Verlinden, but that date is now uncertain.
The Staffing Crisis
The most significant obstacle is a chronic shortage of prison staff. The new facility requires 320 full-time positions, but only 53 surplus officers are available from the current Begijnenstraat prison. This leaves 270 new staff to be recruited and trained.
“There are 320 full-time positions planned for Antwerp-Zuid,” said Robby De Kaey, union representative for ACOD. “Currently there are 53 penitentiary officers in surplus at the Begijnenstraat. That means another 270 new people must be found. I’m curious if that will succeed.”
The prison service had been warned as early as December 2025 that hundreds of new guards would be needed. Recruitment drives and job fairs have been held, but the timeline remains tight.
Controversy Over Private Security
Complicating matters further is a dispute over the use of private security guards. The FOD Justice wants to hire 30 private security personnel for access control of non-inmates — lawyers, family members, suppliers, and visitors. Unions strongly oppose the plan, which carries an estimated cost of €11 million.
“FOD Justice still can’t tell us after months of negotiations how the tasks of those security guards will be filled,” De Kaey said. “That private security costs a lot of money. We’re talking about 11 million euros, but nobody can tell us anything more about the added value.”
The Old Prison: Inhumane Conditions
While the new facility sits empty, conditions at the Begijnenstraat prison — built in 1855 — continue to deteriorate. Designed for approximately 430 inmates, the prison regularly holds around 700. In the week the HLN article was published, 69 inmates were sleeping on the floor.
Cells measuring roughly 3 by 4 meters are shared by three inmates in a space designed for one. Guards have described inmates sleeping with their heads next to the toilet, and VRT NWS reported that overcrowding leads to daily tensions and aggressive incidents.
“The prison in the Begijnenstraat is certainly not an attractive working environment, with quite a few problems,” said An Janssens, the prison director, in an earlier interview.
The DBFM Model Under Scrutiny
The prison was built under a Design, Build, Finance, Maintain (DBFM) public-private partnership. The consortium Hortus Conclusus — comprising Jan De Nul NV, EEG NV, and TINC — raised approximately €200 million for construction and 25 years of maintenance. The total construction cost was €195.5 million (excluding VAT), with an annual availability fee of €23.1 million, according to the Regie der Gebouwen.
The DBFM model transfers construction risk to the private sector, but the government remains liable for the availability fee once the building is delivered — regardless of whether it can actually be used. Similar arrangements exist at prisons in Beveren, Dendermonde, and Haren.
What’s Next
After the inauguration — whenever it occurs — a testing period will begin, including a trial weekend where volunteers will be locked in cells to simulate real conditions. The prison service estimates this process will take at least until after the summer holidays.
Whether the prison can open by September remains uncertain. The staffing question, the technical issue, and the private security dispute all remain unresolved. Meanwhile, the monthly payments for the empty facility continue, and the inmates at Begijnenstraat continue sleeping on the floor.
“When I visited the Begijnenstraat twenty years ago as a public prosecutor, that prison was already completely worn out,” said former Minister of Justice Paul Van Tigchelt in 2023. “I understand that director An Janssens is counting the days to move to New Antwerp.”