From prisons to 'Houses': more than a discursive shift,

More than ten years ago, Hans Claus, a radical and charismatic Belgian prison governor launched the idea of replacing all prisons by small-scale ‘Houses’, striving for a radical change in penitentiary policies. He started a think thank, bringing stake holders together with different backgrounds, such as architects, magistrates, advocates, academics, social work, politicians, artists, human rights activists and sympathizers from within the penitentiary system, to support and further develop his ideas for a better and more meaningful way of detaining people. Also, a European movement for Detention Houses called ‘Rescaled’, that strives for small-scale, differentiated and community-integrated detention was started.
In Belgium, the Houses grew from a local grass roots movement into a respected spokes partner for local and national governments. The concept of ‘Houses’ became known by a broader public from a penitentiary perspective and its main principles were recuperated by the former and current Ministers of Justice. Two transition houses were created in 2018 and today 15 ‘Detention Houses’ are announced for the upcoming years.
This paper analyses the social, organizational and political developments of the Houses as grass roots movement and analyses how initial radical penitentiary ideas have been integrated in current penitentiary and legal policies and used by politicians for their own benefit