Life behind bars gets new twist in empty Dutch prisons

Yahoo – AFP, Sophie MIGNON, July 10, 2017

Empty prisons in The Netherlands are finding new leases of life, from offices
 and homes, to restaurants and even a university college, as crime rates have
fallen. (AFP Photo)

Breda (Netherlands) (AFP) - Voices echo around the magnificent, luminous dome of Breda prison, breaking the silence of the 130-year-old building, now empty of inmates like dozens of others in The Netherlands.

Falling crime rates over the last decade, as well as changing ideas about punishing criminals have robbed this penitentiary of its original purpose, and its gates clanged shut in 2014.

Built in 1886, it was possible to watch everything happening in the prison from its central courtyard under the main dome -- a classic example of the 18th century social theory of Panopticism on passive behaviour when people are constantly observed, first mooted by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham and later built upon by his French counterpart Michel Foucault.

Metal spiral staircases snake all around the dome down to the former canteen under the glass floor. Old sports areas are marked out on concrete, all are surrounded by cells stacked four storeys high, their now-rusted doors swinging open.

Unlike the previous occupants, some 90 businesses hold the keys to the building, free to come and go at will.

'A lot of history'

Miguel de Waard, co-founder of the 3D Red Panda VR start-up, is among those who believe they have found a perfect office location, helping give new life to a protected national monument.

"We just instantly fell in love with this particular office: the high ceiling, the nice touches and the big windows and the lighting," de Waard told AFP.

"We don't see bars, I think, when we look outside, we just see a beautiful part of Breda."

But he acknowledged the past has cast long shadows. "Every time we enter the dome or the women's prison, it's pretty dark, that's true. And there's a lot of history and sometimes you can feel it as well," he said.

"The first time we were here and we had the keys, we were, like, wandering around at night in the dark and it's a pretty amazing experience."

From cells to restaurants

There are now only 38 prisons still in operation in The Netherlands, with 27 closed since 2014.

Six were sold for about 20.7 million euros ($23 million), while others have been rented out, often as centres for asylum seekers, bringing in a total of around 18 million euros.

After leaping crime rates swelled Europe's prison population in the 1990s, numbers in The Netherlands have dropped thanks, in part, to prevention programmes and a greater focus on re-integration.

"Judges are sentencing people in different ways. Not more lightly, but differently, with community service, or ankle bracelets" and rehabilitation clinics, said Anneloes van Boxtel, who administers the interior ministry's real estate.

Crimes fell some 26 percent between 2007 and 2015, according to the official Central Statistics Bureau.

In a decade, the number of people imprisoned every year in The Netherlands fell from 50,650 in 2005 to 37,790 in 2015. And the rate of incarceration stands at 57 prisoners per 100,000 residents, compared with 458 in the United States.

So the Dutch have sought to put their empty cells to good use.

A detention centre in northern Veenhuizen has been rented out -- guards included -- to Norway to house its own inmates. A former women's jail in northeastern Zwolle is now an award-winning restaurant.

With a 60-million-euro price tag, a penitentiary in Amsterdam Overamstel is to be transformed into a new residential district with thousands of homes. And a centre in Haarlem, bought by the local municipality for 6.4 million euros, will open its doors in 2019 as a university college.

New buzz

In Breda, the prison and its 33,302 square metres (358,330 square feet) of space was handed over to a special body in 2016 to be re-used for "social" projects.

"That was our biggest challenge: to open the prison again," said Mandy Jak, communications and marketing advisor for the VPS association.

But interest has been huge, with some 300 people swiftly signing up to move in.

"It actually feels like not a prison any more. If you look around, it looks like a prison of course, but with all those start-ups, it's got new energy," she added.

However, one summer evening new "inmates" were spotted, as about 350 people were once again locked in, taking part in perhaps the ultimate "Prison Escape" adult adventure game that have become popular in many countries. Barricaded into the cells, participants have to plot an escape over three hours with the help of some 80 actors.

But once rid of these thrill-seekers, the building again sank into silence. Until the next business day.

Amsterdam’s Bijlmerbajes became an asylum seekers’ centre. Photo: Mig de Jong

via Wikimedia Commons

Related Articles:

Prisons becoming holiday camps as government sells off empty jails - New
The Dutch prison crisis: A shortage of prisoners

Dutch prison population falls 27% to 11,000 in five years

Five prisons to close as falling crime rate leaves cells empty

Fewer crime suspects, but one in six is now over the age of 50

Burglary rate drops, fewer Dutch feel unsafe

Amsterdam crime rate drops, despite gang wars
Dutch murder rate drops to a 22-year low

Dutch feel there’s less vandalism: police say they are right

Police figures show 4% drop in recorded crime, more bikes stolen

New York goes a record 11 days without a murder

Tough case to crack: the mystery of Britain's falling crime rate


"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… "Wow, Kryon, how long is that going to take?"

The Humans in the room control that and those listening later and reading. When you leave this room, what are you going to do? Go home, report this, rub your hands together, and wait for it to happen? It won't. For the Humans in the room and the old souls hearing and reading have got work to do, and I've told you this before. You've got work to do.

There's an alliance that you're going to have to create with one another and with another group - the young people of Earth. The youth of this earth are changing the way things work. Can you see it? You're not supposed to sit around and watch them either, because they need you, old soul.

It's time for you to align with the indigos and the concepts of the youth of the planet. Do not think for a moment that their age shows their wisdom. These two attributes are not commensurate with one another; they're not linear. These young people may be older souls than you are! Don't think that because they've got technology that you don't understand that you can't be one with them. Their technology is social networking, the very thing we are talking about, where everyone can talk to everyone. The new consciousness on the planet starts in two areas - the children and the old souls.

Conclusion

This is the message of the day. The recalibration of awareness is going to change systems, education, government and finance. Those who don't choose to be spiritual at all will still move with a new awareness, for they will be aware of something that they are not aware of now - a softer way of living.

We close with a trite statement that we've given before, but that many have stated in jest: "If women ran the world, they would never send their sons to be killed on a battlefield."

Many laugh. How trite, how simple minded. Indeed, there have been women leaders who have put wars together; they had to. They sent their sons, so that's not really a correct statement. However, it's more right than you may think, dear ones.

So now I will make the statement I have made over and over in these recalibrated channellings: "When recalibrated Humans run the world, there will come a day when they will never send their sons into the battlefield." You see, awareness will change all of that. They will eventually see the wisdom of unification, new ways to settle issues, and the intuitive attribute of putting things together instead of tearing them apart.

There will be a time when government armies will not need to be large, and weapons will not be as powerful. Slowly, government won't need them. Slowly, slower than you want, these things will happen as the old soul carries his light and looks at the masters of the planet and emulates them.

You've all heard it: There will come a time when the masters will come back to Earth, and there are many who are waiting for this. However, it has already happened! They couldn't come back until the alignment was right and now it is right. This is what you are feeling in 2012 and beyond. It's starting to happen, and they're back. But they're not back as corporeal Human Beings. They're back as the energy of recalibrating of the awareness of God.

I wouldn't say these things unless they were true. Watch for these things, dear ones. Remember where you heard them first and when some of them start to occur in your news. And when you see the earth working in this fashion, dear one, maybe you'll realize that what I have given today is real.

Be circumspect. There is no perfect timing. Humans will create all this at their own pace. Do not be in fear of the things that might follow, for I say it yet again that the old energy will show itself soon in survival mode and it won't be pretty.

In this beginning of new energy, stand tall and turn on your light. Darkness will shirk before you. That is the truth of the day.

I am Kryon, in love with humanity.

And so it is.

KRYON.