In March, the Association of Prison Officers of Luxembourg (AAP) raised the alarm over a rise in violent incidents and attempted assaults within Luxembourg’s prisons, with their main demand being straightforward: more staff. Additional personnel, they argue, would improve security for both prisoners and guards and allow quiet periods to be properly observed.
Luxembourg’s three prisons, Schrassig, Uerschterhof, and Givenich, are currently staffed by 680 agents. Fifty new positions have already been granted, with a further 16 requested. The pressure comes as the prison population continues to grow, pushing facilities close to maximum capacity and generating tensions that are increasingly difficult to manage.
For prison administration director Serge Legil, whether violence is genuinely on the rise is not a question that can be answered with a simple yes or no. The pattern, he said, tends to come in waves, though the overall trend over recent years is clearly upward. This year alone there have already been four incidents, not all of them severe, but all concerning enough to warrant attention.
In such incidents, guards are either directly targeted or find themselves having to intervene. Legil cited a case in which a detainee threw a plate at a guard, fortunately without making contact, as well as the well-documented escape attempt at Givenich, in which serious injuries were narrowly avoided. So far this year, no agents have sustained serious injuries, though Legil was candid about an incident at Givenich the previous year in which the outcome could have been catastrophic.
The 50 new positions already approved are a step in the right direction, and the additional 16 requested will likely follow, but Legil was measured in his expectations about timing and when the new recruits would arrive. The prison administration is not the only public body competing for recruits, and how staff are allocated across state administrations is ultimately a political decision.
On the question of finding the right people, Legil was equally clear that numbers alone are not enough. Prison work is a psychologically demanding profession, and he was firm that quality cannot be sacrificed in the name of filling posts quickly, both out of respect for those already doing the job and for the integrity of the institution itself.
Despite the risks involved, Legil views the role of prison officer as a genuinely attractive career. He described guards as a kind of first responder operating within a prison environment, a role that demands sensitivity, empathy, and the ability to listen, all while maintaining a clear and unwavering boundary between detainee and agent.
Legil closed by assuring that the prison administration is fighting on all fronts and remains in constant dialogue with the unions.
