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On July 28, 2015, State Secretary for Security and Justice (V & J) Klaas Dijkhoff sent a letter to the Second Chamber to formally inform them that twelve places of detention will be built on St. Eustatius. It is expected that this detention facility will be completed in 2017.
Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen (DJI) has commissioned the Ministry of V & J, in cooperation with the authorized force manager (korpsbeheerder) of the Police Force Caribbean Netherlands (KPCN) and the KPCN itself, the Prosecution’s Office BES and the Correctional Facility Caribbean Netherlands (JICN) , of a proposal for the detention capacity on St. Eustatius.
The detention facility will be part of the existing police station on St. Eustatius. The KPCN and DJI will work together in the combined building. This means, research is being done on which tasks are interchangeable to promote optimum deployment of staff from both organizations. The detention places will be for adult men and women, foreigners and to a limited extent and duration for juveniles. For the execution of juvenile detention, they will be will be transferred to Bonaire.
Because of the limited capacity and facilities of this new location and the limited number of fellow prisoners, is the basic principle that, if the preventive detention or imprisonment is longer than six months, the detainee will be transferred to JICN on Bonaire. For each individual will be determined which maximum length of stay in the detention facility on St. Eustatius is appropriate. For the final phase of detention the detainee may be returned to the detention facility on St. Eustatius in benefit of his or her social rehabilitation.
This detention facility meets the need of Saba and St. Eustatius for custodial sanctions and preventive detention, taking into account the size of both islands and efficient use of public funds. The fact that prisoners no longer, or much less have to be sent to JICN Bonaire, not only provides the opportunity for prisoners to receive visits but also gives the opportunity to work in their own environment on their rehabilitation. The realization of the detention capacity at St. Eustatius is therefore an important improvement in the criminal justice system in the Caribbean Netherlands.
Press release RCN
Or they could have just been transferred to Schiphol, whose prison currently has a major overcapacity. That would have meant no new prison was needed at all, hence less costs, and if inmates don’t want to go there, they shouldn’t have broken the law in the first place.