August 22, 2006
Prison break, Belgian style
The item dominating the news since I came back to Belgium is the prison escape of 28 dangerous criminals from the prison of Dendermonde. No laughing matter for the people living in the vicinity of the prison and the victims of these violent thugs (most of them from Kosovo), but the manner in which it happened is more Monty Python than “24”.
Friday night, two prisoners pryed open the outdated lock of their cell with a metal bar they had “recovered from their cell door.” Yes, it does not make sense to me either. But it gets better.
The Belgian justice department was quick to point out that it knew that the locks were outdated, and it even had bought new ones, but –alas- had not installed them yet. Why not? “We wanted to paint them first in the color of the cell door before installing them.” Nothing breaks the aesthetic of a 19th century prison cell like non matching door locks. Do you think it is possible that Martha Stewart sat out her sentence in Dendermonde?
Next came what was probable the easiest part: overpowering three of the four prison guards. Yes, that is right, four prison guards for 200 inmates. Explanation of the prison guards’ union: “If something bad happens, we call the police.” Unfortunately, the gangsters –armed with a kitchen knife and broken mirror- did not read the union’s charter and instead of granting them a free emergency phone call, ordered the frightened guards to hand over their keys and locked them up. The gangsters, looking for power in numbers, then opened the other cells. Some lazy inmates could not be bothered and decided to stay in for the night, but 26 of them joined the party.
Then, they encountered their first big obstacle, a high prison wall with a gate to which they did not have the key. However, using scaffolds left behind by some bricklayers, they were able to climb the wall. The workers were doing some work on the wall to –I kid you not- increase the security of the prison. If prison security is a priority, not leaving behind scaffolding that can be used as a stepping stool for escaping prisoners might be a good start.
They jumped some more walls, using their bed linens to protect them from the glass and razor blades on top of the wall. The last jump to freedom was somewhat high, but fortunately the escapees could use a phone booth to jump down in two times, so they all got down without broken bones or sprained ankles. Now here is the kicker: the phone booth had been used as a landing platform “in previous escapes.” Wouldn’t you think that after three or four escapes in which gangsters used this phone booth on their way to freedom, that some one would have said: “Ein minuten bite, would it perhaps not be a good idea to move the phone booth across the street?” And perhaps someone did, but the papers for removal probably got stuck on the desk of some government employee who is on her 11-month maternity leave (and throw in a couple of extra months because she is breast feeding).
By now, the fourth “perceptive” prison guard posted at the main entrance sees some suspicious activity on the security monitor and, as requested by the union, alarms authorities. The prison director, who lives –and I think this is kind of cute- next to the prison, runs out on the street (what I want to know: what was he wearing?) to help and applies a time tested Belgian law enforcement technique: he yells at the escapees. They did not comply with his request to please return to their cells. (Cake or death?)
In the meantime, the other three guards had been released by some brown nosing prisoners who had chosen to stay in their cells. How sad is that? Especially since escaping from prison, as long as you don’t use violence, is not a crime in Belgium; it is even considered to be a fundamental right of the prisoner.
As of today, 19 prisoners are still on the run. One got caught taking a nap in an empty pub (neighbors had noticed a bicycle outside the deserted bar and notified police) and an Iraqi escapee was caught walking happily in the street in broad daylight. However, the more “cunning” (and one has to use this term loosely when dealing with Belgian police and prison guards, recently a prisoner escaped by putting on the clothes of and posing as a cell mate who was being released) gangsters are still on the loose. Now, in the United States, I’d imagine some hard-nosed prosecutor or police officer wouldlook sternly in the camera and make statements like: “And I want all of these escapees to know; you can run but you can’t hide, and we will hunt you down, rest assured.” Now, as Osama-bin laden has shown George Bush, talking the talk is easier than walking the walk, but still,…. Americans seem to look for this kind of reassurance from their leaders, even if they cannot deliver. Here on the other hand, every instance of efficient government is considered to be a pleasant surprise. The prosecutor has been quoted as saying: “I am sure we won’t be able to recapture them all.” Well, at least we don’t have our hopes up, so we are saved the disappointment. As Oscar Wilde famously said: ambition is the last refuge of failure. He was not an American
It is quite a big deal over here right now, and everyone is pointing fingers, the extreme right party will undoubtedly feast on this bone thrown at them by yet another example of inefficient government and the prison guards' union –you guessed it- organized a strike.