At least three Dutch prisons regularly hire in a psychic healer to treat inmates, magazine HP De Tijd reports on Wednesday.

Paul van Bree, from Schiedam, claims to be a clairvoyant and says he is sometimes asked to get in touch with prisoners’ dead relatives.
‘Then I tell them that they [the dead relatives] are doing well and that they love them,’ Van Bree told the magazines. ‘That brings them peace. Big strong men burst into tears.’

Therapy
Van Bree, who says he is not the only psychic healer employed by the justice ministry, claims he is often able to point other prison workers, such as psychologists, in the right direction.
A spokesman for the justice ministry told the magazine: ‘this is not something which fits in our treatment field.’
In 2007, the Volkskrant reported that tarot card readers and astrologists were being paid to help the unemployed get back to work.