In the 17th century a judge would give you a house of correction punishment when convicted as guilty. These houses of correction were opened by the ideas of Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (1522-1590). He believed that crime was a disease and you could recover from it by working really hard. His views rooted. In 1595 the first house of correction opened in Amsterdam. These houses of correction were the precursor of modern prison.
The conditions in the houses of correction were really bad. Prisoners died of hunger, tiredness and cold. In 1821 a 'Koninglijk Besluit' (Royal Decree) was made: prisonres got the right of basic needs like clothing, food and health care.
Commander major Johannes van den Bosch wanted to do something about these miserable situation. He founded the 'Maatschappij van Weldadigheid' (Society of Humanitarianism). A private foundation which wanted to get poverty out of the world. He bought land in the provinces Drenthe and Overijssel to found settlements. Poor people from the big cities, vagabonds, beggars and orphans were send to these settlements to do labor.
In 1859 the government decided to take care of the house of correction in Veenhuizen and in 1875 it went to the department of Justice. At this stage it became a prison camp.
Around 1900 2 new prisons were build in the area.
Till 1984 Veenhuizen stayed a 'closed village'. Nobody was aloud to enter Veenhuizen wihtout a permit. The village had his own hospital, pharmacy, swimmingpool, clubhouse, schools and churches. When you decided to quit the job or went to retirement, you had to leave the village.
Nowadays one of the prisons is a museum site. It shows information and items from that period. Really interesting to see how people used to live back in the days. You can go on a bus ride. During this ride you will see the whole site and which building was what. Really interesting.
Oude Gracht 1
9341 AA Veenhuizen
The Netherlands
www.gevangenismuseum.nl
All pictures and videos are my own.
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