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A Plea for More Research into the Causes of and Solutions for the Challenges of the Dutch Complaint Procedure in Prisons in the Light of Procedural Justice Theory The aim of this article is to urge the need for (further) research into the experiences of prisoners with the Dutch complaint procedure in prisons. Legally and theoretically speaking, the Dutch complaint procedure is almost “picture-perfect”: it has been set as an example by the ECtHR and has repeatedly received a high approval rating by the CPT. Therefore, it could serve – and is already serving – as an example for other member states of the Council of Europe. However, the Dutch Life in Custody Study shows that prisoners are not satisfied with the way their complaint is dealt with and the procedure is overflowing with complaints. For the Dutch complaint procedure to keep serving as an example for other countries, and at the same time to be able to overcome the challenges it faces today, the causes of and solutions for these challenges should be investigated. We argue that (inter alia) the notion of procedural justice could provide excellent opportunities for further research in this field.

The Statute of autonomy for Catalonia has given to the Autonomous Community the executive power in penitentiary affairs. This fact, unique in Spain and with few equivalent counterparts in other countries, has raised from the legal point of view the need to draw a divide between this power and the State’s exclusive power on criminal, procedural and penitentiary law. Moreover, this uniqueness encourages analysis to test to what extent this autonomous power can explain the real differences between the Catalan prison system and the Spanish prisons administered by the State. The smaller prison population in Catalonia is an indicator of such a difference. By way of conclusion, the study reveals that such a difference cannot be primarily attributed to a singularity in the exercise of the power in prison affairs, and that the penitentiary official data available do not establish that decisions taken by the various actors in the criminal justice system are a sign of any less punitive attitudes in Catalonia. .