Almost half the people who have served time in prison go on to re-offend within two years of their release, the new chief of prisons Gerard Bakker has told the Telegraaf.

Bakker told the paper more needs to be done to prevent re-offending, partly by improving the way prison guards are trained. ‘No society can permit a re-offending rate of 45%,’ Bakker said.

People who have served time in psychiatric prisons, where they get intensive counselling and help are, by contrast, less likely to offend again, he said. ‘Investing in treatment helps,’ he told the paper.

Bakker made the comments on a press tour of the high-security prison in Vught.

In June it emerged that the Netherlands is closing a further four prisons because of falling prisoner numbers. Around one third of prison beds are now empty.

National statistics office CBS said earlier this year that the crime rate in the Netherlands is now back to the level in 1980, with 49 crimes reported for every 1,000 members of the population.