This text is, in combination with a chronology, an attempt to sketch the current situation inside and outside of the Belgian prisons.
From the prison to the street…
It has been quiet around the Belgian prisons for many years. It has been quiet because barely anything crossed the walls, there were almost no contacts and the monster seemed intangible.
The prisoners themselves changed this situation. In the beginning of 2006, contacts between individuals in the street and prisoners started to grow. From March 2006 on, these contacts lead to a growing agitation over the prison of Ittre, a so called modern prison. This was followed by an insurrection in the prison of Mons at the end of April and in the middle of May a small part of the prison in Nivelles burned down. Different groups of comrades decided to organize a solidarity manifestation in Brussels.
The manifestation offered to different people the possibility to join the struggle against the prison. It facilitated the distribution of pamphlets and posters in the streets and at the prison gates. Around 150 people demonstrated in Brussels on the second of July in solidarity with all struggling prisoners and in support of a few demands that came out of certain prisons.
During the months preceding the demonstration, different instruments have been used to make the struggle against the prison public, like pamphlets, posters and the bi-monthly magazine "Uitbraak" (jailbreak) which is still crossing the walls. The demonstration itself was rather unsatisfying because the mobilization didn't succeed in bringing more people to the streets.
A summer of escapes
During the summer of 2006, the Belgian prisons were plagued by a wave of escapes. Apart form some individual escapes, it was the collective escape from the prison of Dendermonde that made a fool of the State. A couple of prisoners took hostage of the guards and opened all the cells of their wing. 28 prisoners escaped.
The demonstration had raised some questions for the comrades on the street. They wanted to deepen the struggle against the prison and extent it to the struggle against the society of control.
The murder of Fayçal and a wave of insurrections
Fayçal, a boy from a popular neighbourhood in Brussels, was killed in an isolation cell in the prison of Vorst at the end of September. He was killed by three injections of the tranquillizer Haldol. Riots burst out in his neighourhood and other places in Brussels. During the whole month of October, insurrections broke out in the Belgian prisons and caused serious damages.
It's not easy to regard all of these events in connection to each other but we can neither separate them. The insurrections in the prisons are probably more due to local conflicts than to the murder of Fayçal. But we cannot doubt about the fact that the insurrections opened the way for discussions inside of the walls. The collective riot has become a means within reach. Comrades in the streets try to make a contribution, as limited as it may be.
It is certain as well that the State realize something is at stake. The different measures taken to enforce the prisons don't lie to it: the deportation of prisoners, the construction of new prisons and of two isolation-compartments for 'dangerous' prisoners, punishments for prisoners who make complaints against the guards, more difficult procedures for conditional release..
It doesn't stop..
In the middle of January 2007, the ramshackle concentration prison of Merksplas explodes. Shocking testimonies of prisoners were circulating in the media the week preceding the insurrection. The guards decided to go on strike against the allegations and the prisoners answered by occupying the yard. This escalated in an insurrection. A few weeks later, the prisoners from Oudenaarde climb on the roof and the same happens a few weeks later in the highly secured prison of Lantin. In April an insurrection causing serious damages took place in the prison of Turnhout.
Doubts, limitations and remarks
We do not wish to give the impression that the question of the prison is alive in the streets. Moreover, the biggest obstructions to the further development of the struggle are the lack of solidarity and the general climate of pacification in which it seems that only prisoners manage to question and fight their situation. Searching for links like the riots in Brussels after the murder of Fayçcal could offer some backbone.
A formal movement of prisoners against the prison does not exist in Belgium and neither do we aim for it. But we regard the extension and maintenance of the discussions (as well inside as outside) as an important step forward.
We are confronted by an agitation that is spreading inside of the walls. We search for ways to contribute to this agitation and to spread it outside of the walls as well, even if this seems difficult. We fight against the pacification.. We've been making some steps forward, but we still have a road to walk.
FOR ANARCHY
Les mauvais jours finiront
"I suppose the people here are against the prison. But let us imagine that the prison is the enemy. That it is a monster with teeth, claws, a mouth to devour you, a stomach to digest you and an arse to shit you out. A threatening, shapeless colossus that you can curse, that you can throw stones against without changing anything, something against which you can't do anything. And yet, this is not true. It is a wrenched vision, a product of the suggestion. The monster doesn't have any nails, no teeth, it has nothing. It is a specific social machinery that functions in a certain way, according to some mechanisms, but it has its cracks and weaknesses that you can attack. There is a big difference between attacking the prison in a symbolic way –verbally, a bit desperately, some sort of light despair. There is a big difference between this and the real attack on the prison, modest as it may be, even if it is not decisive, even if it turns out to be a little guerilla war that bothers an enemy that you can't really destroy. But without always letting the initiative to be taken by the enemy, without letting it to take control of your life; on the contrary, it is taking your life in your own hands to ban the domination."
Taken from an interview with comrades of Autonomous Groups from Spain in the seventies, Copel, tunnels and other contributions of Autonomous Groups, 2004.
2006
5/03 Ittre – A Turkish guy is put in isolation and beaten up by a gang of masked guards.
7/03 Ittre – As response to the beating two days before, about 20 prisoners occupy the yard and demand to speak with the prison board. They demand that the guards who are responsible for the continuous beatings are fired and that the beatings stop. The director refuses to hear their demands and sends the police. A gang of masked guards beat up the 5 prisoners that kept ground. One guy has to be hospitalised.
End March – April – Strikes of prison guards in Antwerp, Vorst (Brussels), Brugge and Turnhout. The guards demand more staff, more security and measures against the overpopulation, "the aggression of prisoners"..
March – April – Pamphlets are distributed at the prisons of Ittre, Sint-Gillis, Antwerp, Vorst , Ghent,… to denounce torture and isolation, including testimonies of prisoners. All over Belgium posters against prisons are pasted and around the prisons graffiti's appear.
20/04 – The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture confirms practices of torture in Belgian prisons. The Committee denounces beatings in the prisons of Namur and Andenne and the cellblock under the Tribunal of Liège. The report also denounces the harrowing situation in the psychiatric wings of the prisons, where there is no treatment except drugs. The strikes of the guards are denounced as circumstances that make torture and mistreatment possible and/or encourage it.
Mid-April Ittre – Again a small disturbance of order inside of the prison. A few days later graffiti's and posters appear around the prison (Tubize, Ittre and Nivelles) in solidarity with the prisoners.
23/04 Mons – Mutiny in the prison of Mons. About 45 prisoners occupy the yard and tear off material to defend themselves against the cops. They set fire at the entrance gate. The police are welcomed with stones and concrete blocks. Around midnight, prisoners are driven back to their cells.
25/04 Turnhout – Two guards are beaten up during the walk on the yard. Two days later the guards go on strike against the aggression of the prisoners.
End of April Ittre – Pamphlets are distributed at the entrance of the prison. The board threatens the visitors to withdraw their permits if they accept the pamphlets or pass them to prisoners.
16/05 Nivelles – As a reaction to a beginning strike of the guards, prisoners put fire to the roof of the prison. One wing and several side buildings burn down completely. Firefighters acknowledge later on that there are no evacuation plans for the prisons in Belgium. The army is called in to preserve order inside of the prison.
Mid-May – Some thousands of flyers and posters are spread all over Belgium to call a solidarity manifestation with all prisoners in struggle on the 2the of July in Brussels.
End May – In Nivelles, Ittre and Tubize posters are pasted all around in the city centres. Several official building of the municipality of Ittre are blotted with slogans in solidarity with prisoners in struggle.
End May – An imprisoned comrade (who uses the name Ringolévio) is transferred from Ittre because he made too much trouble. A few days after his transfer to Arlon, posters are pasted around the prison.
1/06 – Some twenty people come together in solidarity with Nordin Benallal. They meet at the tribunal where Nordin is accused of a shooting with the police while he was on the run. Nordin was already condemned to 27 years for theft and robberies. A few months later they added 12 years to his existing sentence for the shooting.
17/06 – At the prisons of Antwerp, Hasselt, Ghent, Merksplas, Ittre, Nivelles, Mons, Sint-Gillis, Vorst and Leuven-Centraal pamphlets are distributed to mobilise for the manifestation in Brussels.
18/06 – In the surroundings of the prison of Arlon the windows of some twenty cars are smashed, the tires of the cars get stabbed.
20/06 West-Vlaanderen – Two Molotov Cocktails are thrown to houses of guards: one who works in the prison of Brugge, the other one works in the detention centre for people without papers in Brugge. Limited damage. A year later, three persons (who acted in protest to the bad treatment that the mother from one of the accused gets in the prison of Brugge) are condemned to several years of prison.
24/06 – Again pamphlets are distributed at a range of prisons. The police try to intimidate several pickets with identity controls.
1/07 – At the prisons of Ittre, Sint-Gillis and Vorst fireworks are launched.
2/07 Brussels – Some 150 people demonstrate in solidarity with all prisoners in struggle in the streets of Brussels. At the prisons of Sint-Gillis and Vorst the demonstrators light some fireworks. The media spectacle does not pop one word about the demonstration.
16/07 Brugge – Ten people escape from the detention centre. Five are arrested and a few hours later, the rest is able to escape.
17/07 Ittre – Police deploys massively to arrest a prisoner that didn't come back from leave. His girlfriend is arrested and accused of "hiding a gangster", threatened and blackmailed. On the 28 of July, the police catch the fugitive. He writes a letter to the press to explain the conditions in the prison of Ittre and the reasons for his escape.
22/07 Vorst – A prisoner escapes by pretending to be a prisoner who was supposed to be freed. After the release of the "wrong" prisoner, the "real" one presented himself and was released as well.
19/08 Dendermonde – Some prisoners force the doors of their cells, take guards hostage and force them to open the doors of all the cells. 28 prisoners climb over the wall of the prison and escape. The police organise a giant hunt down. The following year about 18 fugitives are arrested.
22/08 Dendermonde – One prisoner, accused of being the "instigator" of the massive escape from Dendermonde, is condemned by default of appearance to 18 months of jail. Fortunately he was still on the run. In the beginning of 2007 Italian police arrests him somewhere in Italy.
22/08 Verviers – Two prisoners climb over the prison walls with sheets. One is arrested a few hours later, the other one is able to escape.
25/08 Brussels – The cabinet of federal ministers decides to spend about 13 million euro on prison security. They also announce the construction of two new prisons, one in Dendermonde and the other one in Namur.
8/09 Tournai – During the morning walk, some prisoners attack a guard, which is followed by a short riot. Prisoners arm themselves with iron bars and projectiles. The police intervene rapidly. After a few hours of confrontations, order is restored.
24/09 Vorst – Fayçal is murdered in the isolation cell with three injections of Haldol.
25/09 Brussels – After the murder of Fayçal, riots spread in the area of the Marollen where he lived and in other districts. During several days confrontations with the police take place. Shop windows are smashed, cars and some buildings are put on fire. The police militarise the districts of Brussels in three days and arrest youngsters preventively.
28/09 Brussels – Two guards are threatened while they sit on the tram. They are called murderers and they see a knife flickering. The next days, guards refuse to wear their uniform when they come and go from work, they are escorted by police.
28/09 Brussels – In the area of the Marollen a pamphlet roams about that calls for solidarity with the rebels of the area, for the linking of the struggle against prison, police and immigration policies and for the diffusion and spreading of the revolt.
5/10 Vorst – Police intervene to drive tens of prisoners who armed themselves with iron bars and are blocking the yard back to their cells.
6/10 Leuven – A slogan of 11 meters long appears in front of the prison equaling guards with murderers. A window is smashed at the union of the prison guards close to the prison.
15/10 Brussels – About 300 people demonstrate to commemorate the murder of Fayçal in the prison of Vorst.
18/10 Lantin – Dozens of prisoners from the high security wing occupy the yard. They arm themselves with iron bars and destroy almost the whole wing. After several hours the police succeed in driving them back to their cells.
29/10 Ittre – Federal police forces all visitors to undress and to be body-searched. In the evening a mutiny erupts. Prisoners burn several cells, mattresses, bins and an office of the guards. Police and guards are attacked with projectiles and iron bars. The damage to the prison infrastructure is enormous. Five guards are wounded. Only after midnight prisoners return to their cells.
30/10 Ittre – Prisoners report that at night fireworks were launched above the prison.
18/11 Gent – The new Palace of Justice is attacked. A window is smashed, cables are cut, graffiti's are put on the walls,… Already the whole month of November the building is scourged by vandals.
21/11 Gent – The Spanish Consulate is attacked with paint bombs in solidarity with the struggle of the FIES-prisoners.
End of November – Some guards of Mons are detained and accused of traffic, mistreatments, torture (they oblige prisoners to crawl naked with cords around their neck and to masturbate each other). They are imprisoned during some months and then released.
8/12 Ittre – The Free Birds paint slogans around the prison of Ittre in solidarity with the prisoners. They also sabotage an interim office, some ATM's and some banks.
14/12 Leuven – In Heverlee the windows of a police station are smashed and a fire is set. The fire gets extinguished by a police patrol. The damage to the building is considerable.
15/12 Luik – In Droixhe the police station is besieged by some 50 youngsters. A Molotov cocktail is thrown at a parked police van. The youngsters split up and no arrests are made.
18/12 Beaumont – Two police cars parked in a garage go up in flames.
23/12 Brugge – Some dozens of anarchists gather at the closed detention centre in Brugge in solidarity with one of their comrades who is locked up there and against all deportations and deportation camps.
2007
6/01 Merksplas – Some papers publish prisoners' testimonies about mistreatments and the detention conditions in the prison of Merksplas. "You have to shut up. Shut up when they tear open your mail, when they penetrate into your cell, when they cancel your walk, when they deny leave on false pretexts. It's on all levels: guards, psychologists and social assistants, the prison board and the prisoners themselves. Prisoners are drugged by heavy tranquilizers that are distributed generously here."
13/01 Merksplas - About 40 prisoners occupy the yard. After a few hours they concede in returning to their cells. At the other side of the prison, in the closed detention centre, a riot takes place on the yard. Five guards are wounded.
14/01 Merksplas – Hans Meurisse (general director of the Belgian prisons) and Laurette Onkelinx (Minister of Justice) take on the defence of their mercenaries in Merksplas and denounce the prisoners' complaints as undeserved and invented. The guards of Merksplas announce a strike against the imputations. They feel 'insecure' because their names and addresses are in the files of the complaints.
15/01 Merksplas – Guards switch to a minimal service (limitation of visits, walks, showers, activities, etc.). Rapidly they have to evacuate the prison because prisoners are mutinying. For hours the prisoners take over the prison and destroy all they can. Some cell blocks are put on fire, windows are smashed, cells are destroyed,… In the evening, riot police invade followed by hours of confrontations between the rebelling prisoners and the troops. Before midnight police succeed in restoring order.
16/01 Merksplas – At least 40 rebelling prisoners are transferred at night to the nearby prisons of Turnhout and Wortel, where some disturbances occur again. About 20 prisoners are put in isolation in Merksplas.
17/01 Antwerpen – The windows of the House of Justice are smashed, a stink-bomb is thrown inside and the writing "Ici comme à Merksplas" [Here as in Merksplas] is left on the wall.
18/01 Ittre – A prisoner escorted to the hospital by two guards escapes. Masked individuals attack the escorting guards and beat them up. The guards of Ittre go on strike against the 'insecurity' . In five other prisons guards join the strike.
19/01 Mons – Guards of Mons go on strike against the fact that they are publicly denounced as "neo-Nazis, torturers,…" They claim to have received threats. They demand that the Minister of Justice makes a complaint against an ex-prisoner who testified on television about the guards in Mons.
20/01 – The guards of Brugge, Lantin, Mons and Andenne join the demands of the guards of Mons and claim to be the butt of slander campaigns.
20/01 – Minister of Justice Onkelinx promises to punish the prisoners of Merksplas who made complaints about the prison.
21/01 Antwerpen – Posters are pasted about the mutiny in Merksplas "War to prison and its world."
21/01 Leuven – The windows of the House of Justice are smashed.
21/01 Mons – Accused A.V. appears in front of the court wearing an orange T-shirt with "GuantanaMons" to denounce the torture in the prison.
23/01 Oudenaarde – A dozen prisoners occupy the yard and climb the roof where they entrench themselves for some hours. Prison infrastructure suffers some minor damages.
23/01 Vottem – Anarchists gather at the closed detention centre in solidarity with their comrade.
25/01 Brussels – More than ten thousand people apply for prison guard on the national selection day.
26/01 Brussels – In the prison of Sint-Gillis a guard is attacked by prisoners. He has to be hospitalised. The guards switch to minimal service.
28/01 Charleroi – Police execute the 23 years old Henaday Numeni who was driving a stolen car. Small riots spread in Charleroi: dozens of cars are burned and stones are thrown against official buildings and shops.
30/01 Charleroi – A police station is attacked with Molotov cocktails. The station is heavily damaged.
31/01 Charleroi – In half an hour time, three police stations are attacked with firebombs. The building of Child & Family (who force norms about child education), next to a fourth police station, is also hit by firebombs. Police call in reinforcements and militarise the streets of certain neighbourhoods in Charleroi.
4/02 Charleroi – The town hall of Damprey is firebombed.
8/02 Tubize – Police kill a car thief on the middle of the road. The thief was not wearing any weapons and police officials speak about legitimate self-defence.
8/02 – Federal police raid three persons in connection with the investigation of threatening letters to guards. Documents and computers are seized.
14/02 – Guards of Merksplas, Turnhout, Hoogstraten and Wortel go on strike against the complaints of (ex-) prisoners and 'slander campaigns'.
15/02 Brussels – The guards of Vorst and Sint-Gillis switch to minimal service. They complain about stress and an incident some days before during which a guard was beaten up.
20/02 – Minister of Justice Onkelinx makes a public declaration about new measures. To counter the violence of prisoners against the guards, she sets up stress teams which, with the aid of the Red Cross, will train guards in conflict management. She has ordered an attainability study to construct two isolation blocks where 'difficult' and 'violent' prisoners can be buried. This plan would be realised on short term and signifies the implementation of a prison within the prison.
22/02 Vottem – Some 150 people demonstrate at the detention centre against the detention of a member of an organisation of people without papers. On the route there are graffiti's against camps and deportations.
22/02 Vottem – A riot ignites at the detention centre. Heavy damage is caused. One guard is attacked. Some mutineers are transferred to the centre of Merksplas.
22/02 Brussels – The glass entrance gate of FEDASIL (agency that manages the 'open' camps for asylum seekers) is smashed.
25/02 Merksplas – 40 people demonstrate at the detention centre where some of the mutineers of Vottem are put in isolation. There is a giant police presence (riot cops, water cannon, etc). Demonstrators have to run through the fields to reach the detention centre and the prison next to it. Prisoners were banging the windows and bars.
Beginning of March – In Merksplas and Turnhout slogans are spray painted against deportation camps and prisons. In Merksplas an ATM is damaged and a shop window is smashed.
Vorst – Prisoners occupy the yard and arm themselves with iron bars in response to the announcement of a strike. Finally riot cops intervene to drive them back to their cells.
Mons – Around the prison of Mons posters are pasted against torture in prison, against all prisons and in solidarity with all mutineers in prison.
2/03 Lantin – A dozen of prisoners mount the roof of the prison. A few hours later they descend after threat of a violent police intervention.
5/03 Lantin – Prisoners occupy the yard. Some confrontations with guards and police take place.
7/03 Louvain-la-Neuve – Above the highway Brussels-Charleroi a banner is hung at a bridge in solidarity with all mutinies in prisons and deportation camps.
12/03 Vottem – Eleven people escape from the detention centre.
15/03 – Officially there are more than 10 000 people in Belgian jails. Prisons in Brussels are overpopulated at a rate of 39 %, in the rest of the country the overpopulation rate is 20 %.
15/03 Brussels – The Palace of Justice is evacuated because of a bomb alert. Three parcels are found; one of them contained a detonator. Police blow up this parcel. Two newspapers had received a message where was explained that the bomb attack was directed against the judiciary, not against individuals and that two fake parcels were left on the spot to mislead the police.
24/03 Brussels – The Christian Democratic Party announces that they want the private sector to construct new prisons.
27/03 Leuven – The building of the Municipal Guard is sealed off: windows are blocked with screws and the door is hammered in nails. A pamphlet against the society of control is left on the spot.
27/03 Gent – The Dutch Consulate is attacked in solidarity with the anarchist NN (anonymous) who is incarcerated in the Netherlands. Windows are smashed.
Beginning of April Antwerpen– Two Dutch banks are attacked in solidarity with the anarchist NN. NN is deported a few weeks later.
8/04 Turnhout – About 80 prisoners occupy the yard and start a mutiny. They start destroying infrastructure (electricity cables, cameras and a guard's office). When police intervene, they defend themselves with iron bars and rocks. Finally most of the prisoners return to their cells. A handful climbs on the roof. Police call in fire-fighters who spray water on the prisoners for hours. Around midnight the prisoners descend. One cop and one guard are wounded.
11/04 Turnhout – A Molotov cocktail is thrown to the Court for youngsters. Damage is considerable. The computers could not function for two weeks..
11/04 Brugge – A Molotov cocktail is thrown to a judiciary building. The entrance of a court is damaged.
15/04 Lantin – A prisoner escapes by helicopter. He's still on the run. The escape provokes a series of security measures. The Minister of Justice studies the possibility to secure all yards with metal constructions or nets.
16/04 Arlon – A prisoner attacks a guard in Arlon. Guards go on strike spontaneously and demand his transfer. The guy is transferred to Gent where he is put in isolation.
19/04 Vottem – Six people escape from the detention centre. Two of them are arrested a bit later.