Two hundred years ago, a progressive project started in Drenthe:people were put to work on the land to help them out of poverty. It didn't work, any more than many later initiatives against poverty and crime. Jan Libbenga described the history.
For little Jan, hoeing prisoners in the garden were quite normal. Just like the ride to school in the crooked bus. Journalist Jan Libbenga grew up in the Drenthe penal colony of Veenhuizen, where his father was the head of the administration of the prison. Later he realized that his childhood was not so ordinary and he delved into the history of Veenhuizen. It can now be read in Paupers en crooks – 200 years of penal colony of Veenhuizen.
Goldmine
For his research, Libbenga dug into various archives and read 93,000 newspaper reports about Veenhuizen:“The growing number of digital newspapers is a gold mine for historical research. This has enabled me to uncover previously unknown information.”
It must be said here that the book is broader than Veenhuizen alone. In the first part, for example, Libbenga describes the establishment of the Society of Benevolence (1818) and the emergence of the various types of colonies in Drenthe, including Veenhuizen for beggars.
The changing policy and public opinion with regard to punishment and the design of prisons are also extensively discussed, and this is not just about Veenhuizen. The book is a history of two hundred years of prison, in which Veenhuizen plays the leading role.
Wild beasts
Beggar's asylum Veenhuizen was set up as a village. Separate buildings for the men and women, workshops, land to cultivate, schools, churches of different denominations, a shop and housing for the staff. The inhabitants were initially beggars and orphans:criminals were not allowed to avoid their bad influence. Because shelter was lacking, weak and old people also ended up in Veenhuizen. They were of course not suitable for the heavy work and cost money. The Society suffered losses and the government took over Veenhuizen in 1859.
From 1874 the asylum fell under the Ministry of Justice, which was accompanied by a stricter regime. Libbenga discovered that an uprising threatened in 1876, which cannot be found in the literature. “The government felt that beggars should not get more than the bare necessities. They curtailed freedoms and banned fun things, such as the newspaper and a game of cards. The beggars, numbering several thousand, became enraged and an uprising threatened.” Veenhuizen was placed under military authority and infantry was brought in from Zwolle and Groningen to keep order.
And it didn't get better with age. The dormitories had to make way for long rows of openwork iron sleeping huts. Libbenga found an article by a visiting reporter from 1893:'We cannot deny that these iron cages, intended for people, made an unpleasant impression on us; one involuntarily thinks of a gallery of wild beasts.”
From asylum to prison
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The number of beggars decreased after 1900 due to the growing number of shelters in the cities. Closure threatened Veenhuizen, but with the outbreak of the First World War (1914) unexpected new residents arrived:smugglers. “Thousands have already been arrested, but thousands are taking their places again. The government speaks strong language, which is fully justified by the facts. Nowadays people easily earn money in Holland.', according to the British Daily Mail.
An emergency law came into effect in November 1918 by Royal Decree that allowed prisoners to undergo their punishment 'in community' from then on. This law made Veenhuizen suitable as a prison and the arrested smugglers poured in. After them, more lightly punished people followed, such as black marketers during the Second World War and conscientious objectors and traffic offenders in the 1950s and 1960s.
Drink and drugs
In the 1970s, the peace disappeared with the arrival of serious criminals and the alcohol and drug abuse in their wake. Drug criminals, especially Chinese, intimidated inmates and guards with their karate skills. The staff smuggled with the prisoners, coarsening and violence increased and the number of outbreaks soared. Part of the staff housing in Veenhuizen was evacuated for fear of shootings.
The worst criminals in Europe were walking around in Veenhuizen, while the policy had become more humane in those years. Libbenga:“Restrictions that went beyond what was absolutely necessary for the detention were no longer acceptable. The Den Uyl government, which took office in 1972, also felt that custodial sentences should be replaced as much as possible by other penalties, such as a fine.”
That a policy with many freedoms did not work for serious criminals was shown by the kidnapping of director Van Tuinen during an attempt to escape from a Spanish hitman in 1981. The policy memorandum Taak &Toekomst from 1982 also concluded that the behavior of detainees with a friendly prison regime could not be changed. sent, as previously thought. Criminals had become more professional and 'a sober but humane regime' was deemed necessary.
Resocialization
But what does help? The book clearly shows that ideas about this differ over the centuries. Beggars, called 'nurses' in Veenhuizen, are said to be cured by physical labour, but most do not survive in society. Eighty percent returned after being fired.
High recidivism also applied to traffic offenders in Veenhuizen, the only prison in the Netherlands for this type of offence. Half of the convicts would eventually drive under the influence again, according to one of the first studies into this 'treatment' from the 1970s.
The treatment involved physical labor:“Cut trees, deepen ditches, maintain canal sides, chores at the parks service, the vegetable garden or the nursery.” Many well-known Dutchmen had to carry out this predecessor of community service. André Hazes was employed in the cemetery outside Veenhuizen to keep him out of sight as much as possible.
The common thread in the book is the high percentage of Veenhuizers who did not get better from their stay. Libbenga:“A group of people continues to end up in prisons or psychiatric institutions for the rest of their lives. Veenhuizen has experimented a lot with different types of punishment, but what I read about it made me slightly gloomy. All those attempts to counteract this and it all doesn't work."
Source usage
The structure of the book is a bit messy at times. Libbenga addresses a new subject per chapter and has tried to arrange the chapters as chronologically as possible. The latter is difficult with a wide range of subjects such as the many types of inhabitants of Veenhuizen and all the changes that the colony had to deal with.
As a result, the same facts appear in multiple chapters. For each chapter, the author also regularly goes back and forth in time, although it is not always clear which period he is talking about. Because of this I lost the thread several times. Searching back in the notes is not an option:Paupers en crooks is a public book with only a list of sources (per chapter).
Paupers en crooks is an interesting book for those who do not need it. Libbenga is the first to provide an overview of two hundred years of Veenhuizen. The wave movement in prison policy is also nicely reflected:sometimes strict, then humane again. Will the right approach ever be found or are some people just lost to society? You almost fear the last…