Authorities in the Netherlands have confirmed that one of its prisons in the northern part of the country can accommodate prisoners from Norway, which suffers from a lack of enough jail cells to house Norway’s growing numbers of convicts.
Newspaper Bergens Tidende reported that the Veenhuizen prison in the Netherlands may take in Norwegian convicts if an agreement between the Dutch and Norwegian authorities is signed.
Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen first proposed sending prisoners abroad last year, as a means of reducing the long lists of convicted criminals waiting to serve their sentences. Negotiations have gone on between Norwegian and Dutch authorities for several months, and could result in Norway sending between 200 and 500 prisoners to the Netherlands, which already has a similar agreement in place with Belgium.
newsinenglish.no staff
