You are Under Arrest.

A topic, which has recently (and frequently), presented itself has been prisons and punishment for crime. One day as we sat around the dinner table there was a news report about a local prison and it's decrease in the number of prisoners. This provoked further questions as to the conditions of Belgian prisons. From what I have read about prisons in France and Italy, I was expecting the worst. Although they have made great progress in the past several decades, the conditions are still considered to be lower than those of American institutions. For those who have read Catch Me If You Can, or have seen the movie, recall the moment when Frank Abagnale, professional check fraud, is captured in France. He is sent immediately to prison where he is sentenced to one year. After six months of his sentence, he is "released" and sent to his next detention center. However what is most shocking about said story is that Frank, almost didn't make it to the next step. Upon his departure from the French prison, where he spent his time in a dark isolated room without facilities, he was malnourished, had lice, and was clinging to life with all his might. This concept is terrifying for me to know that that kind of inhuman treatment was enacted in 1969 (less than 50 years ago !!) Being that Belgium and France are so close in proximity to one another, I feared that perhaps their prisons would be similar. My host mom who is a judge explained to me that it is the contrary. In Belgium the prisons are some of the nicer places. In fact they are nicer than some of the other places for less fortunate citizens. One of the problems that Belgium has is homeless people committing minor crimes during the winter in order to secure a warm place to sleep, and guaranteed meals.

As for being arrested and tried, things like bail exists in principle under the law but is granted rarely. Approximately 40 percent of the prison population consists of pretrial detainees. Pretrial detainees receive different privileges from convicted criminals, such as the right to more frequent family visits. Arrested persons are allowed prompt access to a lawyer of their choosing or, if they cannot afford one, to an attorney appointed by the State. More and more frequently acts of terrorism are being found in, or traced back to, Belgium. This is clearly a major issue and such acts are punished by incarceration. Drug trafficking has lessened in the past couple of years as well as the human trafficking industry. In the grand scheme of things, petty crime is most common. This includes pick-pocketing and purse snatching. Things like mobile phones and music players are the most common thing stolen. In fact just the other day there was an incident at the school where several students wallets and ipods were taken from their bags while they were in gym class.

Although there are always exceptions, I feel as though Belgium is a generally safer place the the U.S. and treats their criminals with a greater hospitality.

CARNAVAL !! (partie 2)

This year I had the privilege of attending several carnival celebrations. Among those has been the Carnaval in Binche, Belgium. This is a very traditional and famous carnival located in the west of the country. It is an event that takes place each year during the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday preceding ash Wednesday and the symbol of this event are the Gilles. The Gilles are characterized by their brightly colored dress, wax masks and wooden footwear. In some cases there can be up to 1,000 at any given time, and can range in age from 3 to 60 years old. Another aspect of these vibrant characters is that they are traditionally all men. The honor of being a Gille at the carnival is something that is to be aspired to by many of the local gentlemen. From dawn on the morning of the carnival's final day, Gilles appear in the centre of Binche, to dance to the sound of drums and "ward evil spirits away with sticks."As the day and the Gilles march on, the men can be found with large hats with ostrich feathers. Like many traditional carnival costumes they can become very pricey. For example the hats of the Gilles can cost up to $300 ! Another tradition of this specific carnival is the throwing of oranges into the crowd. There were men standing around with the only goal of hoisting people into the air to entrap the flying oranges, which are a symbol of good luck.

The pre-Carnival festivities begin on Sunday, six weeks before the "shrove" days. At first, there are the drums rehearsals, then drums are added with music. This happens one of the two Sundays so that all the "societies," or groups that make up the cultural fabrication of the town, do not rehearse on the same day. During the drums rehearsal, the societies listen to their own drums in their own meeting room and then they walk the streets to the rhythm of the beats. During the rehearsals  with percussion, the societies gather together in a café out of the city center and then they join the center with accompaniment of the drums and the bass drums. The Gilles-to-be put then their clogs on and wear their apertintaille (a belt with small bells). They dance and shake their ramon (stick) .

Fat Tuesday comes around and the people are woken in the morning to a breakfast around 7.00am of eating oysters and drinking champagne. Then at 8.30 am and during all morning the societies of Gille and of Peasants meet up on the Grand-Place. The Gilles and the peasant wear their mask of wax and are received at the city of hall by the local authorities to get their jubilee medals. Then the festivities begin once more when the procession starts from the intersections of Battignies at 13:00. This procession travels all the way to the Grand-Place.

Next to those festivities, some galas are organized by the Youths or by the Shrove Monday Association, on Saturday night : the ball of Children, the ball of the Socialist Youth, the ball of the Liberal Youth and the ball of the Catholic Youth. Those balls are entertained by orchestras and people wear often costumes.

some of my friends just had some really great costumes. Here we have Alex from Cananda and Chelsea from South Carolina

This was just a really cool thing to go and witness. I saw all kinds of exchange students and was dressed as a cowgirl. Had such a good time too ! If you ever get the chance Belgium is a great place for carnival ! (: