Three out of four coalition parties are opposed to prisons minister Ingrid Coenradie’s plan to release some prisoners early from jail because of the shortage of cells.

The minister will debate her plans with MPs later on Thursday, but it has become clear that her own party, the PVV, plus the BBB and VVD, do not support the concept.

The minister has already said she considers the plan to be “extremely painful” but that there is no alternative. “We are either going to arrest fewer people or send them home earlier,” she told MPs last week.

The shortage of cells is due to both a lack of space and prison officers.

MPs have called on the minister to solve the problem with “more efficient rosters” and by scrapping daytime activities, so prisoners are in their cells for longer. They have also suggested recommissioning prison boats as a temporary solution for the lack of beds.

The far-right PVV has even suggested putting eight people in a cell and making them sleep standing up. PVV leader Geert Wilders said last month that “no prisoners are going to be let out one or two weeks early” and threatened to pull support for his minister, a move he later retracted.

The minister is also planning to build two emergency prisons with basic facilities and has said she needs “hundreds of millions” of euros to address the lack of cells and personnel after 26 jails were closed and hundreds of prison officers quit their jobs in the last 10 years. The prison occupancy rate is currently 99.5%.

MPs will debate the proposals on Thursday and vote on the measures and any motions submitted by MPs next week.