Netherlands places migrants in prisons

Everyone knows how difficult it was for migrants to reach European countries and what huge crowds they wanted to get there. But now another thing is interesting. What happens to them afterwards, after they end up in Europe? What is their life like?

The government of each country copes with the “migrant crisis” in its own way, but the Netherlands came up with a very peculiar solution - to resettle refugees in former prisons.

Muhammad Mukhaisen, the photographer and head of the Middle East bureau of the Associated Press agency, who twice won the Pulitzer Prize, has been monitoring the situation with migrants through the lens of his camera over the past few years.

As he himself says, he was always interested in what happens to these people after they reach Europe, because this is where their new life is just beginning.

No matter how strange it was to live in prison, you still don’t feel like a prisoner, because you can decide when to open and close the doors of your cell room.

Migrants staged a football match right inside the walls of a former prison in Harlem.

This and some other Netherlands prisons have been deserted due to the decline in crime.

When Mukhaisen found out that refugees live in prisons, he spent 40 days filming their lives in these walls. The photographer says that sometimes, in anticipation of documents, families had to stay here for up to six months.

The prison courtyard of the former correctional facility.

Laundry where people can wash their clothes.

And this is the former Westlingen prison, located in Kheerhugovaard. Here, migrants have fun playing in the yard.

Young migrant on a bicycle in a prison in Harlem.

Despite the freedom of movement, the prison environment nevertheless creates a somewhat painful atmosphere with its barred windows and the tiny size of the rooms.

However, Syrian refugees are trying not to lose heart and entertain themselves with music, conversation, games and household chores.

The man went to the "balcony" in a former prison to drink tea.

Watch the video: 10 CRAZIEST Laws You Can Only Find In The Netherlands (May 2024).