Joke Van der Stricht Appointed Director of Schrassig Prison

Luxembourg's Ministry of Justice and the Prison Administration have announced the appointment of Joke Van der Stricht as director of Luxembourg's penitentiary centre (Schrassig Prison), with effect from 1 February 2021 and for a renewable period of seven years.

At its meeting today, Luxembourg's Governmnet Council accepted the proposal of the Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson, to propose this appointment to His Royal Highness the Grand Duke.

Joke Van der Stricht will take over the role from Michel Lucius, who has occupied the position since 2016 and will now retire.

Joke Van der Stricht holds a master's degree in criminology from the Université libre de Bruxelles and has followed an academic career with a focus on the subjects of prisons, penology, criminal law and forensic psychology. In January 2013, she joined Schrassig Prison as an attaché. After four years, she was appointed deputy director and remains responsible for the component of detention and integration at the facility.

Schrassig Prison is one of the three penitentiary centres managed by the Prison Administration whose mission is to implement custodial sentences. It is a closed prison which has accommodated people in preventive detention and convicts since 1984. With the opening of the Uerschterhaff Prison in Sanem in the next years, Schrassig Prison will be reserved for convicted men as well as for accused and convicted women. Discussions relating to a restructuring of the prison in order to ensure care better suited to the needs of convicts are currently underway.