Escaped Detainee Exposes Belgian Prison Security Gaps

A 28-year-old detainee from Haren prison escaped from a Brussels hospital on August 4, slipping past two unarmed prison guards who say their only means of defense is a BIC pen. The woman was found and returned to prison on August 8 “in good health,” according to RTBF, but the incident has laid bare a systemic security failure in Belgium’s prison system.

The Escape

The detainee, imprisoned for common law offenses and suffering from drug addiction, was hospitalized at the Paul Brien hospital (CHU Brugmann) in Schaerbeek for several days. During visiting hours on Tuesday afternoon, she asked to use the toilet. When the two prison guards assigned to watch her stepped out of the room, she fled into the hospital corridors.

“The detainee ran, rushed and took flight. The colleagues ran after her, but they couldn’t find her given the size of the hospital,” Yasin Sarikaya, vice-president of the CSC union for Brussels prisons, told RTL Info.

Sarikaya noted the escape was particularly puzzling because the detainee was due for release soon. “A person who doesn’t have much time left in prison doesn’t do that,” he said, as L’Avenir reported.

Guards Armed Only with a BIC

The escape has reignited long-standing complaints from prison guard unions about who should be responsible for hospital surveillance of detainees. According to the unions, the DAB (Direction de sécurisation) of the Federal Police — a specialized unit created in November 2017 specifically to handle prisoner transfers and hospital surveillance — is no longer performing this mission due to police staffing shortages. Instead, prison guards are being assigned to these duties without proper training or equipment.

“Today, our only means of defense is a BIC,” Sarikaya said. “If criminals tried to make a detainee escape, we would not have the means to fight back. The DAB was created for this type of mission. Its agents have appropriate equipment: bulletproof vests, defense spray and other means that we don’t have.”

Didier Bruelheid, CSC permanent delegate for penitentiary establishments, echoed the concern: “If criminals want to attack us, we have nothing to defend ourselves with.”

The staffing burden is significant. Monitoring one hospitalized detainee requires six guards per day — two per shift across three shifts. A week-long hospitalization consumes 42 workdays. About a month ago, ten detainees were hospitalized simultaneously, requiring nearly 60 prison staff members to be pulled from their regular duties, as DH Les Sports+ reported.

“It represents several dozen full-time positions that are mobilized while we also have real staffing problems,” Bruelheid said.

A Prison System in Crisis

The escape is the latest symptom of a deeper crisis at Haren prison, Belgium’s largest penitentiary institution. The facility currently holds 1,434 detainees against a capacity of 1,190 places. Nationwide, 13,617 detainees occupy Belgian prisons designed for 11,000, according to RTBF.

In May, Haren’s director Jurgen Van Poecke resigned in protest, warning that installing bunk beds in individual cells would “institutionalize overcrowding,” as RTBF reported. The prison has also seen a wave of violent incidents in July, including an electrocution during meal distribution, five staff members injured during a drug search, and detainees attacking each other with bladed weapons, according to DH Les Sports+.

Sarikaya warned that the security gaps extend beyond prison staff. “This situation can also bring additional danger for other patients in the hospital, even for caregivers themselves,” he said. “Imagine if accomplices wanted to come and get their friend, they would be armed, and us? We would have nothing.”

What’s Next

Union representatives say discussions about the DAB’s role have dragged on for months, even years, without concrete solutions. “It’s been months, even years that these discussions have been going on,” Bruelheid said. “The DAB must do what it was created for. It’s dangerous. And look, when something happens, like the escape of this detainee, people cry wolf. But the problem is there.”

With the detainee safely back in custody and an investigation into the escape underway, the broader question remains: how long can Belgian prison guards continue to operate without the equipment and support needed to do their jobs safely?