Sharing a tiny jail cell with two others around the clock is gruelling at the best of times. But as a heatwave grips Belgium, inmates at one of the country\u2019s overcrowded prisons call it a living \u201chell\u201d.<\/p>\n
Crammed into a space of nine square metres \u2014 less than 100 square feet \u2014 as temperatures climb far above 30 C, tensions can soon run high as well, inmates told AFP on a visit to the facility in the city of Namur.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unbearable, we\u2019re suffocating,\u201d said one 26-year-old from the top of a bunk bed, beside which a mattress has been spread on the floor for a third occupant \u2014 since the space is normally designed for two.<\/p>\n
Same message from a fellow prisoner, housed on the same level of the late 19th-century jail \u2014 which like many across Belgium and Europe has to deal with chronic overcrowding.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s horrible, inhuman! Three of us, in more than 40 degrees Celsius \u2014 it\u2019s a living hell,\u201d said the 44-year-old, who like others could not be identified by name, as he puffed on a hand-rolled cigarette.<\/p>\n
The Namur prison visit had been scheduled well before the heatwave gripping much of Europe \u2014 but it took on added significance as temperatures soared outside.<\/p>\n
Those inmates willing to speak to AFP described cramped conditions and stifling heat, saying they were constantly stepping on each other. Windows can be kept open \u2014 but offer little relief.<\/p>\n
The interviews took place as cell doors were being opened for meal distribution, a highly anticipated moment in the day.<\/p>\n
A towel draped around his neck, an inmate working behind a trolley serving hot food repeatedly wiped sweat from his brow, like an athlete in mid-effort.<\/p>\n
Prison staff acknowledged that the heat exacerbates an already challenging environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s hot, it\u2019s harder to think clearly and keep your cool,\u201d said Julien Faessel, head of the prison\u2019s psychiatric wing.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Enormous pressure\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
\u201cHere the inmates are relatively calm, all things considered. There are occasional scuffles, but we manage to talk things through,\u201d added prison guard Christophe Tichon.<\/p>\n
A veteran with nearly 30 years\u2019 service, Tichon saw the prison fully renovated in 2022 and says it remains \u201crelatively spared\u201d compared with others in Belgium where \u201cthe pressure is enormous\u201d.<\/p>\n
On this day in late June, 247 meals were distributed \u2014 the exact number of inmates. The prison\u2019s official capacity is 220.<\/p>\n
Around a dozen inmates \u2014 just under five percent of the total \u2014 sleep on mattresses placed on cell floors.<\/p>\n
Nationwide, the prison administration reports around 600 mattresses in use across its 39 facilities \u2014 double the number recorded in 2025, when courts began enforcing short prison sentences more systematically.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe political argument was that the sense of impunity had to end. Overcrowding already existed \u2014 but this made it worse,\u201d said Namur prison director Valerie Lebrun.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreviously, we had two or three mattresses on the floor here. Since June 2025, I\u2019ve never gone below 10,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Staff say overcrowding complicates every stage of an inmate\u2019s day \u2014 going to the exercise yard, showering and receiving visits \u2014 making each step longer and riskier in terms of security.<\/p>\n
Lebrun pointed to structural causes, including insufficient investment in addiction treatment and mental health care \u2014 which leads to the incarceration of people who are \u201cfirst and foremost ill\u201d rather than criminal.<\/p>\n
A sign of the growing strain, the head of the Haren mega-prison in Brussels \u2014 presented as a model facility when it opened in 2022 \u2014 resigned last month citing deteriorating working conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sharing a tiny jail cell with two others around the clock is gruelling at the best of times.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,1608,5523],"class_list":["post-24163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-international","tag-mna"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116817714375508282","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}