Flemish Bar Association Sues Belgium Over Prisons

The Orde van Vlaamse Balies (OVB), the professional organization representing all Flemish-speaking lawyers in Belgium, has formally summoned the Belgian State to court over the chronic overcrowding and inhumane conditions in the country’s prisons. The lawsuit, filed on June 5, 2026, specifically targets the Ghent prison — a 19th-century facility operating at more than 158% capacity — and argues that detention conditions have fallen below minimum legal standards for years, violating fundamental human rights.

A Crisis Reaching Breaking Point

The lawsuit follows a formal notice (ingebrekestelling) issued by the OVB on April 30, 2026, which gave the government an ultimatum to take remedial action. When adequate measures failed to materialize, the OVB followed through with legal proceedings. According to VRT NWS, the case demands immediate, concrete measures to address a crisis that has seen record numbers of inmates sleeping on floor mattresses across Belgium’s penitentiary system.

“We must conclude that a normalization of overcrowding has occurred,” said Nicolaas Vinckier, OVB board member specializing in criminal law. “After a year of evaluation, we see that the situation has not improved, but has actually worsened.” Vinckier emphasized the urgency: “We are simply asking that the government do what the law requires.”

The numbers paint a stark picture. On the night of June 4–5, 2026, 668 inmates were sleeping on mattresses on the floor across Belgian prisons, according to Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden. This came just weeks after a record 784 floor sleepers were recorded on April 27, 2026. Belgium’s prisons, built for approximately 11,000 people, currently hold more than 13,000 inmates, making them the most overcrowded in Europe, as documented by New Lines Magazine.

Ghent Prison: A Symbol of Systemic Failure

The OVB’s lawsuit focuses on the Ghent prison, a facility constructed in 1862 with a capacity of 299 inmates. According to the OVB’s official notice, the prison currently holds 176 additional prisoners — an occupancy rate of 158.5% — with 36 inmates sleeping on floor mattresses. The organization detailed a litany of failures: inadequate medical and psychiatric care, insufficient access to outdoor time and recreational activities, and a lack of proper facilities for inmates with severe mental health conditions.

“Whether you want many and long prison sentences is a political choice,” Vinckier stated in the OVB’s formal notice. “The way you execute these sentences is not. Today we see overcrowded, unsafe, and unhygienic prisons, where people sleep on the floor without recreational opportunities and without access to basic care. This is unacceptable, and we determined that it is not improving.”

Government Acknowledgment vs. Action

Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) acknowledged the severity of the problem, telling VRT NWS that “the overcrowding puts staff and management under severe pressure and undermines the general functioning of our prisons.” She pointed to government measures including an emergency law that reduced the backlog of unserved sentences from 5,000 to 2,300, and a March 2026 agreement on further steps — including promoting the release of internees, faster return of undocumented inmates, and additional capacity and staffing.

However, critics argue these measures are insufficient. The resignation of the Haren Prison director on May 30, 2026 — just days before the lawsuit — underscored the depth of the crisis. The director stated that overcrowding was being “institutionalized” rather than solved, according to Le Soir. Haren, Belgium’s newest high-tech facility opened in 2022 at a cost of $450 million, held approximately 1,500 prisoners with 279 floor sleepers at the time of the resignation.

A System Under Multiple Pressures

Belgium’s prison crisis is decades in the making. The country’s oldest prisons, including Ghent, Antwerp, and Saint-Gilles in Brussels, were built in the 19th century and were never designed for modern detention standards. Despite repeated condemnations by the European Court of Human Rights, successive governments have failed to implement structural reforms.

The situation has been compounded by tough-on-crime policies. In 2022, the government reversed a long-standing practice of rarely imprisoning those sentenced to less than three years, dramatically increasing the prison population. Union leaders and experts describe this as a politically motivated shift. “It’s a right-wing move,” said Robby De Kaey, federal secretary of the ACOD union, as reported by New Lines Magazine. “The public demands harsh penalties, and politicians are eager to capitalize on that sentiment.”

Staffing levels are equally dire. Belgium has one of the lowest staff-to-inmate ratios in Europe. In Antwerp prison alone, 60 additional staff were needed as of May 2025 — a 12% understaffing rate. Mario Heylen, a prison guard with 17 years of experience in Antwerp, described the consequences: “Overcrowding turns prisons into pressure cookers. And we’re the ones trying to keep the lid on.”

The crisis extends beyond overcrowding. Belgium’s prisons have become de facto psychiatric institutions, with the number of inmates suffering from severe mental health conditions doubling to over 1,000 between 2019 and 2024, yet only 500 dedicated beds exist nationwide. The country’s prison suicide rate is nearly triple the European average.

What Comes Next

The OVB’s lawsuit is unprecedented in its origin — coming from the legal profession itself, the very body responsible for upholding the rule of law. The case could set a precedent for other professional bodies to hold governments accountable for systemic human rights violations. No court date has been announced yet, and it remains unclear what specific remedies the court may order.

For those working inside Belgium’s prisons, the lawsuit represents a long-overdue reckoning. As Wim Ipers, a prison teacher with 27 years of experience, told New Lines Magazine: “We know what works. I’ve seen it in Norway. A humane approach, proper reintegration, trained staff. It’s more expensive. But it brings recidivism down from 70% to 20%. The only thing that’s missing here is will.”