Small Scale Detention: The First Detention House in Belgium

ICPA2023 Presentation by Laurence Nibelle and Petra Colpaert (ICPA2023-PID003)

Authors

Laurence Nibelle

Director, Detention Administration Department, Project Leader, Detention House, Belgium Prison Service - Justice Department

Laurence Nibelle graduated at the University of UCL in Criminology. She started as a social worker in the Prison of Saint-Gilles and Ittre in 2000. A few years later, she joined the management team of the National Electronic Monitoring Centre. In 2007, she joined the team of the Central Psychosocial Service as a social work inspector. Since Februari 2021, she took over the management of the detention administration department and agreed to be the project leader for the detention houses project. The reflection on the adequacy of the regime of detention of the prisoners with regard to the required level of security as well as the concern of the reintegration of the prisoners are among her topics of interest.

Petra Colpaert

Governor, Federal Department of Justice, Belgium

Petra Colpaert graduated at the University of Ghent in Criminology. She worked for 25 years in one of the smallest low security prisons in Belgium. She started as a social worker in the Prison of Ruiselede in 1997, focusing on the rehabilitation of addicted inmates. Since 2010 she works as a governor in the prison with longterm convicted inmates. To lower the recidivism rates, she started the addiction-program B.leave, the training program ‘workout’, a volunteer program ‘Recovery’ and the Re-entry house, a halfway house for inmates without social capital. Since September 2022, she started the first detention House of Belgium in the city of Kortrijk.

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