You are an illegal person in Holland and you will be sent back to your country. Before you can go back, you must stay for a period in the jail at the airport. It’s so boring over there and if you get up in the morning, you don’t know where you will be in the afternoon. You spend your time with reading and sleeping. But suddenly, you see a fire and you hear people screaming. You can’t escape because your jail is locked and together with 10 other people you have a painful death…

This is what happened on November 9th at the jails at Schiphol airport

The fire extended around midnight and raged in approximately half of 24 two person warrants in the asylum seekers wing. At that moment there were 43 prisoners in jail. The fire department had the fire under control around 3.00. The air traffic has found no delays. It was the second time that there was a fire in the building. The first time was short before the opening, end of 2002. Police force and military police have no indication that prisoners have escaped, but a spokesman could exclude that not yet entirely because of a current inventory. Three persons tried to escape, but the police caught them fast. The justice ministry was no longer possible to guarantee the security of the prisoners in parts of the complex and he brought them for this reason to other jails in Zeist and Rotterdam. It is still unclear how long the building remains out of use.
After the fire alarm rang after midnight, employees were looking. Afterwards they have unbolted all warrants in the wing by hand. It was not possible to open all warrants in a time electronically, a spokesman of justice said.

What happened after the fire

Many people in Holland said that we can’t send the prisoners who survived the fire back. But minister Verdonk decided that we must send them back anyway and the parliament agreed, so most of the prisoners left Holland yet.

The police think that a 45-year-old man from Libya started the fire. He was in jail at Schiphol and he should be sent back the day after he started the fire. He says he isn’t guilty and after he heard that the police think he started the fire he was shocked. The Libyan is heavy wounded and he’s now in the hospital. To be continued…

A few days after the fire the society ‘Genoeg is Genoeg’ organised a commemoration for the 11 death people. The families from the victims hold speeches and also some ministers did that. The commemoration ended with sorrowful music.

The department did some research at the jails and it was found that the jails which are still open still aren’t safe. The town council wanted to close all the jails but Minister Donner doesn’t want to close them. Some illegal persons, who are still in the jail, can’t go to another jail because there isn’t enough room for them over there. 2 Days ago Minister Donner decided that the jails which are still open will not be closed, despite the danger for another fire…