Hans Meurisse

Prison Administration, ICPA, Belgium

Hans Meurisse holds a master degree in Criminology from the Ghent University and also participated in several post-graduate courses, which allowed him to gain profound knowledge of public, financial and penitentiary management, forensic matters, Business Process Reengineering, and organised international fraud.

He started his professional career in 1986 with the Judicial Police, where he eventually was appointed Chief Investigator. In 1999, Hans became the Prison Governor of the Ghent prison. His work was mainly focused on managing the detention of convicts, remand prisoners, and mentally ill prisoners on an operational level. In September 2006, he was appointed as the Director General of the Belgian Prison Service.

Hans Meurisse was the Director General of the Belgian Prison Service for more than 11 years, from 2006 until 2017. During that time, he also served as President of the European Organisation of Prison and Correctional Services (EuroPris) for 6 years after being appointed in 2011. He was also a former member of the Board of Directors of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) from 2009 until 2011 (2nd International Vice-President) and from 2014 until 2017 (Ordinary Board Member). During his previous tenures with the Association, Hans hosted the ICPA Annual Conference in 2010 and provided support to ICPA through staffing, logistical and administrative services including the appointment of the Tineke De Waele as Executive Director.

Following his Presidency of the organisation, Hans served as a Senior Advisor and International Expert with EuroPris. Today he serves as Vice President of ICPA since 2019 and plays a key role on the Board of Directors. He is also involved in ICPA’s various initiatives and events, where he brings his expertise in technology, planning and design, and statistics. In his manifesto for serving as Vice-President, Mr Meurisse remains committed to enhancing the collaboration between ICPA and others internationally, with a key focus on building relations in Europe and Africa.