Against the prison of Haren and all modern prisons

Or how a localized struggle contains the ferment of a unified thought

« We are told that the prisons are overcrowded. But what if it was the population that was overcrowded? » 

Michel Foucault

« There is no coherent penal and penitentiary policy in Belgium 

International Prison Observatory 

The answer of the Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region to our question about the relevance of building a mega-prison in Haren, and more widely of new prisons in Belgium, contains in substance the void of thought of a certain elite that is supposed to represent us, a void that is propagated in the society by the media propaganda Their ability to imagine another world is dead… After singing the usual refrain about the differences in regional and federal responsibilities, Rudi Vervoort (but it could have been someone else) deploys two arguments: one seemingly altruistic, the other clearly self-serving. The first, the observation  » undeniable » « dhe dilapidated, even unhealthy, prisons of Saint-Gilles and Forest », explaining that « the conditions of detention of the prisoners have been repeatedly criticized by international authorities ».The word « prison » sounds like, how can I put it? something false! It is curious that the fate of the prisoners is suddenly in the forefront of one’s mind when it is expected to build a mega-prison by means of a public-private partnership. Curious that one suddenly thinks of the fate of the prisoners when one expects to build a mega-prison by resorting to a public-private partnership! 

The second argument seems more revealing of the thinking of power:  » the announcement of the disaffection of the prisons of Saint-Gilles and Forest constitutes for the Brussels Region an opportunity to develop a new residential district and to create new facilities for the benefit of its inhabitants ». Olivier Chastel, for his part, perceives prison overcrowding only as « as a major obstacle to an effective and coherent policy of sentence enforcement ».(1) Overpopulation is good for you Denys, one of the partners in the Cafasso consortium chosen for the construction of the Haren prison, which has already implemented the construction of a forensic psychiatric center in Ghent — in addition to projects in Chad, Cameroon, Ireland, Algeria, etc. — and prides itself on being « the partner of choice for outstanding construction work ». On his website, referring to the mega-prison project in Haren, called « prison-village », he describes a « deal » that includes not only  » maintenance services (for 25 years), but also for 5 years certain facilities services (catering(2), laundry services and waste treatment) ».

In this way of thinking, dissenting voices such as that of the Court of Auditors or the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which stated that building new prisons  » is not likely, in itself, to solve the problem of overpopulation in the long term. What if the intention was not that? For the President of the MR, the construction of the 2217 places planned will be insufficient and it will inevitably be necessary to build new prisons under a Masterplan III, « if the budgetary context allows it or according to financing methods to be determined » (i.e. « massive recourse to the private sector »). 

A little feigned philanthropy on the part of some, a lot of realistic pragmatism on the part of others. A headlong rush for all, with no other perspective than change in continuity. And in order for the illusion to work, which the media and professional politicians feed us, we must constantly repeat that a small elected minority is acting for the good of all, in order to « offer » us a better future, even « better » than today. The prevailing media discourse and political measures, however, only create reductive dichotomies that pit us against each other, making us forget our common humanity. Among these, those separating natives and foreigners or workers and unemployed. But there is one that seems to be the consensus and where few dare to express a divergent position: that of prisoners versus free men. The prison question, fed by the media’s fantasy of the prisoner as a dangerous psychopath, is difficult to discuss, as it leads those who try to understand to be ostracized by a community that sees the « out-of-society » rejection of the prisoner as something normal. 

Paradox of life and struggle, it is by opposing projects such as the Haren prison that the people will finally be able to begin a work of reunification and to think again, to finally see that behind the political rhetoric, the prison question concerns us all and calls within us a humanity that had been lost (p.16) But the current management of confinement is a formidable machine for making voices, which conceals the link that has become obvious between the fight against terrorism, Belgian following of the thought and policy of the United States, privatization and organized misery (p.14). This misery, fruit of our modern societies which create it while pretending that they fight against it and which, not knowing what to do with human waste, reify it in « carceral capital »… creation and recuperation, known cycle of our consumerist societies which set up the having in supreme value and generate the conditions of the frustration, resting on erroneous beliefs that never the media take the time to dismantle (p.10).

To think against is therefore to recreate the link in a world where atomization is more useful for production: being alone — modern solitude — together — in perpetual competitive comparison — prevents us from thinking ourselves and the Other. To be united against the absurd, deploys the capacity to be able to name it, to discover that behind the peasant, ecological and social struggles, one and the same struggle unites us: that for life. 

File produced by Alexandre Penasse 

The photos accompanying this file are by Jean-Marc Bodson and Hugues de Wurstemberger. Thanks to Maxime De Coster for the contacts. 


More info :

- See Luk Vervaet’s website http://lukvervaet.blogspot.be, and his very complete article « No to the mega-prison in Haren ». 

- Haren Committee: www.1130haren.be

- Complete file of the public inquiry on the mega-prison www.bruxelles.be/artdet. cfm?id=4843&agendaid=4454

- Platform to get out of the prison disaster: www.harenunderarrest.be

- Haren TV : www.haren.blogs.sudinfo.be

- Collective Vrije Keelbeek free! www.haren.luttespaysannes.be

- Inter Environnement Brussels : www.ieb.be/Une-mega-prison-a-Haren

- Open Farm Alternative: www.respireasbl.be/spip.php?article1025


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