A prison company has won a contract to make 731 new cell doors for the new Zaanstad prison, junior justice minister Fred Teeven told a television chat show on Monday night.

The doors will be produced by In-Made, the prison service company which also makes garden furniture, bikes, wooden toys, fencing and football goal posts.

The company won the contract via public tender. Prisoners in Zwolle and Veenhuisen will produce the doors and will be monitored closely at all times, Teeven said.

Competition

Teeven denies the prison service is competing unfairly with normal companies, despite the fact the prisoners earn very little from their labours.

‘All the costs are included and while prisoners may provide cheap labour, their guards have to be properly paid for,’ Teeven said. In total, the contract will provide 20,000 man hours of labour, he said.

All the country’s 29 prisons have an In-Made company.