Penitentiary security

Migrants Setting Blood, Faeces ‘Traps’ for Prison Staff

Language classes and the recruiting of ‘Islam scientists’ are among measures announced by North Rhine-Westphalia’s (NRW) justice ministry to combat the rising number of ‘disgust attacks’ in prisons by Maghreb migrants.

Across Germany, migrants from North Africa have been setting ‘traps’ for staff in prisons by “greasing” doors handles, floors, and other surfaces that employees are forced to touch and walk over with bodily fluids, mainly faeces and blood.

NRW has acknowledged the problem for some time, but in November the state’s justice minister Thomas Kutschaty was forced to admit the attacks have been growing more frequent.

Thirty-two cases in which “detainees from the Maghreb states have contaminated areas with blood and/or faeces” were logged in 2016. At prisons in Iserlohn and Cologne, there were even incidents in which staff members were pelted with faeces.