Prisoners in Dutch jails may soon face restrictions about what they can and cannot wear to avoid them showing off their expensive clothing.

Junior justice minister Ingrid Coenradie has told MPs she wants to ban some brands altogether and to bring in maximum prices for other articles of clothing, the AD reported on Wednesday.

Criminals try to develop status among their fellow prisoners by wearing expensive clothing and shoes, the junior minister told parliament. In addition, they can trade clothing to get extra privileges. In turn, this can make it easier to continue a criminal career from their cell, she said.

The minister said she wanted to include the clothing rules in prison regulations and is currently discussing the issue with the prison service.

Her own party, the far-right PVV, wants to go further and MP Emiel van Dijk has proposed bringing in a prison uniform as part of moves to “make the prison regime more basic”.  

The minister said earlier she is looking at what can be done to make the Dutch prison regime “more basic”.

Coenradie told MPs she does not see the added value in such a move, pointing out that prisoners tend to behave better when they are allowed to express themselves more freely. They also have the right to wear their own clothes and shoes, she said.

The new minister first hit the headlines last month when she said she is exploring the option of sending some Dutch prisoners to serve their sentences in Estonia, as staff shortages in the Netherlands have left the country without enough space to house convicts.

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.