The Netherlands is looking into sending some of its convicted criminals to serve their sentences in foreign jails because of the shortage of prison staff at home, junior justice minister Ingrid Coenradie has told the Telegraaf.

Coenradie, who represents the far-right PVV in the new cabinet, is also looking at what can be done to make the Dutch prison regime “more basic”, the paper said.

Some 2,000 people in the Netherlands are currently out of jail, even though they should be behind bars, because there is nowhere for them to go.

Several years ago, Belgian and Norwegian prisoners were sent to the Netherlands, which had a surplus of cells at the time. “The past shows that there are options to make agreements between countries,” Coenradie said, labeling the plan as “very possible”.

The minister is also looking at ways to reduce prison guard numbers, but has already abandoned the idea of multi-person cells because the larger cells that are available are occupied. Safety issues and the lack of space in some jails are also a problem, she said.

Nevertheless, everyone who has been sentenced to a prison term will go to jail, she said. “Perpetrators cannot escape their punishment,” she said. “Who has to go to prison, will go to prison.”