The delegation visited Antwerp, Lantin, St-Gilles and Ypres Prisons and paid particular attention to issues such as material conditions, overcrowding, activities, health-care services (including the situation in psychiatric annexes), staff - especially in the context of prison staff strikes and the implementation of legal provisions on guaranteed service – and the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the outset of the visit, the delegation met Mr Rudy Van de Voorde, Director General of the Prison Administration, as well as representatives of the prison staff trade unions, the Central Prison Monitoring Council and the Belgian Section of the International Prison Observatory. At the end of the visit, the delegation presented its preliminary observations to Mr Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Minister of Justice.

The CPT’s delegation consisted of five members, Mr Vincent Delbos (Head of delegation), Ms Vanessa Durich – Moulet, Ms Ifigeneia Kamtsidou and Messrs Vitalie Nagachevschi and Hans Wolff. They were supported by Mr Borys Wódz, Head of Division at the CPT’s Secretariat.