In the Netherlands we are closing our emptied prisons. What can other countries learn from our approach? | Renate van der Zee

YYesterday I went to the cinema in the Dome prison in Haarlem. This monumental building – a huge panopticon-style facility that first opened in 1901 – is one of more than 20 Dutch prisons that have closed in the last decade. Some of them end up serving much more pleasant purposes, such as being a cultural center.

In the Netherlands, the number of prison inmates has fallen by more than 40% in the last 20 years. At the other end of the spectrum, Britain has the highest incarceration rate in Western Europe and is struggling with an unprecedented prison crisis. British Prisons Minister James Timpson describes the Netherlands as a source of inspiration.

What could the Dutch system teach the rest of the world? First, the decline in the prison population is not really the result of recent policies by visionary politicians. Much of this is due to changes in reported crime and the type of crime. As in many other Western countries, the number of violent crimes in the Netherlands has fallen significantly in recent decades.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that there is actually less crime overall, as Dutch criminologist Francis Pakes, a professor at the University of Portsmouth who has studied the reasons for emptying Dutch prisons, told me: “There is less conventional violent crime like murder. On the other hand, much of the conventional crime occurred online and is less visible. And it’s entirely possible that there is a form of organized crime that we have little insight into. But fewer and fewer serious cases are coming to the police and courts.” And so fewer people end up in prison.

Although the Dutch do not have an exemplary policy for the world to emulate, the general attitude of the Dutch towards incarceration could be instructive. According to Pakes, the Dutch are much more aware that going to prison does more harm than good. Society may be rid of a criminal for a while, but in many cases criminals simply resume their activities after being released from prison. They may become even more ruthless because of the violent prison climate they had to survive in. And perhaps they have a larger criminal network that they have built behind bars.

This also applies to shorter sentences. These can also turn a perpetrator’s life completely upside down. You can lose your job, your home and your social network. And you rarely become a better person during a short stay in prison.

Due to the riots during the Nazi occupation in World War II, the culture in the Netherlands is not to impose long prison sentences. The culture is different in Great Britain and the USA: many British and American politicians advocate harsher punishments in order to present themselves as strong leaders. However, more politicians – often right-wing ones – are now doing this in the Netherlands.

It is not uncommon for British judges to impose sentences for minor offenses that appear to the Dutch to be relatively long sentences. Dutch judges are much more inclined to do community service or impose a suspended sentence in similar cases. Research shows that this is not only cheaper, but also reduces the likelihood of relapse. Even in cases where prison sentences are imposed, penalties for minor crimes such as theft have declined significantly over the past decade, while penalties for violent and sexual crimes have increased.

This attitude of Dutch judges is not the reason for the recent decline in the prison population. But in the Netherlands the proportion of prison inmates is consistently lower than in countries such as England and Wales and particularly the USA. Long prison sentences put enormous pressure on the prison system. And given the enormous cost to society, if that money were instead spent on prevention, some wonderful things could be funded.

In any case, the Netherlands has at least one hopeful message for other countries: it is not a given that the number of prison inmates will always increase. Furthermore, it is not necessarily true that society becomes less safe with fewer people in prison. Despite the empty prisons, the Dutch can still walk the streets safely at night, especially compared to, for example, the UK, where crime incidents and concerns about crime are higher.

In addition to looking at the Netherlands, Timpson might also consider Norway’s remarkable prison system. Prisons are often small and heavily focused on reintegration. They are designed so that everyday life can proceed as normally as possible.

As a result, inmates are less alienated from society. For them, integration is easier than for someone coming from an overcrowded British prison where they are locked up 22 hours a day because the staff can’t cope any other way. In such cases, the transition to the outside world can be extremely abrupt. Someone may reoffend within the first few days of being released.

It is debatable whether a system from a sparsely populated country like Norway is suitable for the UK or other large countries. But it is also clear that the British system is reaching its limits and a new approach is not a luxury. James Timpson is ready. We in the Netherlands will be curious to see what his plans are.