Strange on the surface, but serious on closer inspection: A prison experiment, unique to date, begins in Belgium: 55 lawyers are deliberately taken into custody as “inmates”.
Brussels – At least as part of the Monopoly board game, everyone has probably been in prison at least once.
Just as unimpressive as the imprisonment there, not a few imagine a real stay in the penal institution.
The trivialization and sometimes even glorification of the time in "prison" is the subject of some currents in contemporary music.
But what is life really like behind bars?
To find out, a special kind of experiment was started in Belgium. 55 lawyers were imprisoned for it.
Belgium: 55 judges and prosecutors are in prison – as prisoners
"Of course, the judges and prosecutors know how things work in a prison," says Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.
However, there is often a difference between theoretical knowledge and actual experience, as tennis legend Boris Becker, for example, had to painfully experience during his imprisonment.
Because of this differentiation, on Saturday, September 17, 55 lawyers in the Haren district of Brussels were summarily shipped behind Swedish curtains.
The participants in the experiment are now the only inmates in the new prison, which is due to open at the end of September and will house 1,200 offenders.
According to Quickenborne, however, the detention of judges and prosecutors should not only serve to personally experience deprivation of liberty.
Rather, the stay in prison should be made as realistic as possible in every respect.
The 55 "prisoners" must therefore listen to the instructions of the prison staff, are not allowed to use mobile phones and at 10 p.m., according to the Ministry of Justice, the lights go out.
Furthermore, the participants would have to work in the kitchen and laundry.
Belgium locks up lawyers: That's why judges and prosecutors are now going to prison
The reason for the experiment is not only that the imprisonment of the 55 judges and prosecutors serves as a dress rehearsal for the prison staff, but also that the lawyers experience the prison conditions first-hand.
They are to be treated like prisoners there until Sunday afternoon, September 18, as this experience can help the judiciary to make more informed choices about the sentences to be imposed.
Unlike real prisoners, however, the volunteers can stop the experiment at any time - for example, if they "have difficulties coping with being in prison".
(askl)
List of rubrics: © Silas Stein/dpa/Symbolbild