Dutch politicians question not-executed prison sentences – StMaartenNews.com – News Views Reviews & Interviews

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PHILIPSBURG — In February, Justice Minister Anna Richardson informed Parliament that 136 convicts are still waiting to serve their sentence. She also reported that, even though the Prosecutor’s Office does not focus on the status of these people, out of 87 inmates 24 (27.6 percent) are undocumented.

Three Dutch D66-parliamentarians – Joost Sneller, Hanneke van der Werf and Jorien Wuite – have now posed twelve questions to their Minister of Justice Yesilgöz about the issue.

“Do you consider not executing prison sentences a problem given the objective of promoting good governance by contributing to the strengthening of the constitutional state?” The three politicians also want to know what the effect not executing prison sentences has on the confidence in and the functioning of the judicial chain.

An interesting question is about the cause of the situation. The questioners wonder whether this has anything to do with a disproportionate investment in parts of the judicial chain that are tasked with investigating crime.

The politicians furthermore ask about the progress with the construction of a new prison, the scope of the acute shortage of detention capacity and the possibility to execute sentences in the Netherlands.

They ask the minister to put the issue on the agenda of the next four country consultation with the objective of finding a solution.

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