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.