Belgian release policies, rationales and practices

Belgium has a two-track policy towards prison release: a quasiautomatic administrative release system for those with a prison sentence of up to three years, and a discretionary system operated by multidisciplinary Sentence Implementation Courts for persons with a prison term of more than three years. This article describes, discusses and compares both release systems, with a particular focus on their rationales and consequences and provides updated figures on the use of the different forms of release in Belgium. The principle of relative autonomy will be described as an important legitimation strategy of conditional release. The article explains how the sentence implementation rationale of reintegration is put forward as an important aim of sentence implementation in the law and how it is pursued in practice. The consequences of the increasing use of the ‘gradual system’ of release on the detention trajectory of long-term prisoners will be illustrated.