Samenvatting

Ever since prison overcrowding in Belgium emerged in the late 1980s, irregular migrants in prison were subjected to penal and migration policy initiatives. In this article, particularly (1) the opening of closed administrative detention facilities, (2) the periods of administrative detention in prison and (3) the installation of migration officers who identify irregular migrants in prison will be scrutinized. We will argue that besides a legal approach of the concept Crimmigration − as the convergence of Criminal and Migration Law and procedures − the evolution of the presented migration and penal policy in Belgium is a crucial aspect of the process of Crimmigration.