Terrorist ward in violation of human rights
In the Netherlands, adult and juvenile men and women convicted of a terrorist crime are automatically placed in the Terrorist Ward (TA) of the Penitentiary Institution. The regime at the TA is very strict: for example, detainees must sit in their cells 22 hours a day and are inspected after each visit. On a similar regime, the ECtHR previously found that there was a violation of the prohibition of torture.
The fact that placement on the TA is automatic is also problematic. There is no individual assessment of convicts prior to placement. There is also no periodic reassessment. If you get on the TA, you stay on the TA.
Moreover, you do not have to be convicted of a terrorist crime to be placed on the TA. People who are merely suspected of such a crime also come to the TA.
The Terrorist Division
When the TAs were established, the intention was to prevent the spread of radical ideas by placing all the radical inmates together in one ward so that the non-radical inmates could not be influenced by them.
At the Nieuw Vosseveld Penitentiary Institution in Vught and De Schie in Rotterdam, two special wards have been dedicated to detainees suspected or convicted of a terrorist crime since 2006. After being closed for a long time, the department in Vught has reopened since the end of 2014 due to the arrest of returned Syrians and other terror suspects. Between 2006 and 2014, an average of 80 people were detained at the TA.
Placement on the TA
Article 20a of the Selection, Placement and Transfer of Detainees Regulations (hereinafter: the Regulations) requires that detainees suspected of or convicted of a terrorist crime be placed on the TA. In addition, detainees may be placed on the TA if they proclaim or spread a message of radicalization before or during their detention, which includes recruitment activities. Thus, they are not suspected or convicted of a terrorist crime but are placed on the TA because of their ideas.
The Regulations make no distinction between the placement of men and women.
According to the Regulations, a selection officer should assess the risk profile of the detainee and determine the degree of security based on that assessment. However, it appears from several rulings of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles (RSJ), that placement on the TA is entirely automatic, based on the categories mentioned in the Regulations. Determining the risk profile, or a risk-assessment, does not seem to take place at all.
Also, research by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) of January 19, 2017, shows that placement takes place without prior risk assessment.
Minors on the TA as well
Minors aged 16 or 17 who have been prosecuted or convicted under adult criminal law can be placed on the TA. Bringing adults and juvenile detainees together in one ward is a major problem, which is considered objectionable by many bodies such as the RSJ and in international conventions (Article 37 under c of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 10 paragraph 2 under b of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). Juveniles, for the purposes of their education and rehabilitation, have different needs from adults. They should not be exposed to influences that may be unfavorable or even wrong for them from adult detainees.
The detention regime on the TA
On the TA, an individual regime applies. This means that the detention regime on the TA has many restrictions on visitation, work, education and other activities. Detainees must spend 22 hours a day in their cells and are allowed only occasional airing. They are not allowed to have contact with more than three fellow inmates at the same time. There are also strict rules regarding visits. For example, the director of the facility may decide that this can only take place behind glass. Also, an examination of clothing and body always takes place after the visit. This includes visitation: the external inspection of the openings and cavities of the body. Visiting is often very humiliating for detainees. It may make them feel compelled to have their family visit only behind glass.
The Extra Secure Institution
The detention regime at the TA is similar to that at the Extra Secure Institution (EBI). About the EBI, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in 2003 that there was a violation of the prohibition of torture in Van der Ven v. the Netherlands and Lorsé et al. v. the Netherlands. The weekly visitations, combined with other aspects of the harsh regime to which Van der Ven and Lorsé were subjected in the EBI meant that there was “inhuman and degrading treatment.
The regime at the TA is at least as strict as that of the ECI, but you can still get away from the ECI. There, there is a periodic assessment of the necessity of placing the detainee in an aggravated regime. With the TA, this periodic assessment does not exist. If you are placed on the TA, it seems impossible to get off.
Assessment of TA by independent bodies
Back in 2008, CPT, in its report on the TA in the Netherlands, was critical of: the lack of periodic review of detainees’ risk, the fact that detention on the TA should not be de facto the same as segregation, the security measures in case of contact between the detainee and lawyer, the manner in which medical examinations are carried out and the lack of a daily program for detainees.
As a result of its findings, the CPT advised the Dutch government to reconsider the detention regime. Then Minister of Justice, Hirsch Ballin, appears to have disregarded this advice, stating that visitations and the way medical examinations are conducted are in the interest of security. The daily program and detention would be in accordance with the Penitentiary Principles Act, Hirsch Ballin said.
In 2016, not much appeared to have changed. Again, the CPT noted during its visit to the TAs that the regime on the wards leaves much to be desired. There is still frequent visitation of detainees and a lack of a daily program. The CPT is therefore of the opinion that in any case there is ‘ill treatment’.
Amnesty International and the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) also argue that the conditions under which the Dutch government detains people on TA are inhumane. In a report published in October 2017 titled “Inhuman and unnecessary,” they argue that the proposed reforms are insufficient to address concerns surrounding serious human rights violations. Amnesty and OSJI make a series of recommendations in the report, including abolishing prolonged solitary confinement and the frequent humiliating visitations. They also call for individual risk assessment for placement on the TA, rather than automatic placement based solely on the charge.
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