A new book written by three University of Liège assistants makes a thorough analysis of the law governing the law on detention on remand, and the way it is applied by law professionals (1). The work of jurists and not criminologists, this book thus does not tackle the problem of prison over population, often seen as the consequence of the abusive use made of this law.

This work, richly documented in jurisprudence and doctrine, might not be the bedside reading of ordinary mortals, but it will rapidly become an extremely important work tool for young magistrates, lawyers, police personnel, law students, social sector professionals, journalists and everyone who, confronted by the different facets of crime, are interested in the conditions in which an individual may be deprived of their liberty. As the freedom to come and go as one pleases is one of the recognized fundamental rights for everyone who lives in states governed by the rule of law, the conditions in which one can be deprived of it are extremely strict. In Belgium they are determined by a law of July 20, 1990, which finally modernised legislation dating back to…1884. The new law being inscribed within the perspective adopted by European Court of Human Rights, which, basing itself on Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights and fundamental freedoms, reminds us that ‘detention under remand must be considered as an ultimate solution, which is justified only when all the other available options prove insufficient.’ In other words the freedom to come and go as one pleases is the rule, and limits to this liberty must remain the strict exception. Thus the law has it that the public authorities can only arrest a citizen (beyond cases of crimes or misdemeanours) and detain them when there exist serious indications of culpability, and that the suspected individual risks trying to escape the actions of justice or to impede the normal course of judicial enquiry, for example by concealing proofs of his offence or looking to influence witnesses. The law of July 20, 1990, and the various alterations which have been made to it also carried the hope of limiting the use of detention under remand and even to bring down the numbers of people subjected to it.

Yet the opposite situation seems to be happening. The statistics related to the number of people detained in the thirty or so Belgium penal institutions are eloquent in this respect. Whilst there were 5,611, as a daily average, in 1980, their numbers reached 8,688 in 2000. And it has almost not stopped growing since, breaking through the barrier of 10,500 during the first part of 2010, and there is nothing which announces any fall in the near future. But, if we break down this overall ‘prison strength’ by the categories of those detained, we are faced with an even more surprising result. 

(1) Olivier Michiels, Daisy Chichoyan, Patrick Thevissen, La détention préventive, Editions Anthemis, Collection Criminalis, Louvain-la-Neuve, 2010, 204 pages.