THE HAGUE, 16/06/09 - Prison sentences are in many cases not carried out. The judges that give these sentences do not know this, says conservative (VVD) MP Fred Teeven.

In 2005, the government announced that in exceptional cases, criminals with short prison sentences would not have to serve these. They were given electronic house arrest via a GPS ankle-band. The temporary measure was taken because there was a shortage of prison cells. But Teeven has discovered that the policy has become standard, even though there is a cell surplus now.

In 2008, Teeven discovered, 2,040 persons were only given house arrest though sentenced to prison for up to three months. These are almost never small criminals, because they in any case practically never receive prison sentences, stresses the MP. Teeven was himself a well-known public prosecutor for years.

As an example of gangsters who "can sit on the couch at home with a crate of beer," Teeven named persons "who have robbed old women several times." The judges imposing the prison sentence do not know this sentence is not carried out, according to Teeven. He is demanding that the measure should be got rid of and has requested an interlocutory debate.

Teeven is particularly furious because Justice State Secretary Nebahat Albayrak announced only two weeks ago the closure of eight prisons, with 1,200 job losses. The reason she gave was that the Netherlands has become safer. "They invent a story that there is a surplus of cells. This is deceiving the public," Teeven told TV programme Nova.

Albayrak confirms that although the non-lockup policy was only brought in as a temporary measure in 2005, the measure has been made standard until at least 2010 because "It has meanwhile been discovered that electronic house arrest offers many advantages".