People who are sentenced to a maximum of two months in prison will have to serve their time at a later date because of the shortage of staff, legal protection minister Franc Weerwind said on Friday.

This “acute and temporary” measure may also be supplemented by more electronic tagging and time in rehabilitation units rather than jail, the minister said in a briefing to MPs.

Earlier, the minister said people who report to prison themselves to serve a short sentence will not be locked up in an effort to offset the shortage of staff. In the Netherlands people who are sentenced to prison terms are not always jailed immediately after a verdict.

Currently 330 prison cells are out of circulation because of the shortage of staff, Weerwind said. This has also led to a lack of capacity at police stations.

The measures are “painful and difficult but necessary,” Weerwind said, adding that the strategy is focused on ensuring people convicted of serious crimes are locked up.

The ministry is currently in the middle of a recruitment drive and looking at the options offered by robotisation.