A detainee who the police linked to Ridouan Taghi’s network was able to make unlimited and uncontrolled calls to the outside world due to a blunder in the penitentiary in Krimpen aan den IJssel. According to the Algemeen Dagblad, it was a suspect who was a flight risk and had been placed in an extra strict prison regime.
GVM
The issue occurred in the period after September 2023, after the arrest of Ridouan Taghi’s eldest son. In the Netherlands, dozens of suspects were then told that their GVM status had been increased (GVM stands for detainees with a flight and/or social risk).
This means that they will be placed in a stricter regime and will be monitored more closely. One of the restrictions is that they are allowed to make short calls and only under supervision. All telephone conversations are listened to live by security staff.
On and off
A suspect who was locked up in a high-security section of the prison in Krimpen aan den IJssel was allowed to make fifteen minutes of telephone calls a day. His phone calls were listened to live.
Employees of the PI must switch the telephone on and off in his cell. This did not happen well for the detainee in question. Last month he discovered that the phone in his cell was on.
The man raised this with the prison staff. He was told that if the phone was ready for use, he could use it. But the security staff who were supposed to listen to the conversations were not present.
The suspect had access to this telephone line for more than 24 hours.
Punished
The suspect has now been punished because it would be ‘his own responsibility’ not to call. His lawyer Max den Blanken is indignant about this: ‘The client has twice reported on his own initiative that his telephone was wrongly switched on, and the second time he was given permission to call. I have tried to find a solution in consultation with the director. This one was not open to that.’
Violent incidents
Over the past year, PI Krimpen was faced with a shortage of staff, which meant that detainees were often locked up for too long. Crimesite announced this week that two serious violent incidents took place in December.
