Haren's new mega-prison: too far from Brussels' courts and understaffed

Haren prison – a project that was controversial from the outset – is continuing to cause problems, prison bosses and lawyers have said.The main issue is that this mega 18-hectare village with a capacity of 1,190 places inaugurated in 2022 is just too far, about 10km, from the centre of Brussels, which is causing delays to trials.The prison, which was supposed to replace those in Forest and Saint-Gilles, is also a long way from the Justice Palace where all the major court decisions are made and all the lawyers are based. “The judges, interpreters or lawyers have to wait for the detainees for an hour, two hours, three hours. Cases are systemat…