Belgium has possibly the most progressive euthanasia laws with the act being considered legal for people who can demonstrate that their physical or mental suffering is unbearable. Earlier this year euthanasia laws were extended to include children.
Now prisoners are joining the debate.
"A convicted murderer and rapist who argued he was living a life of unbearable psychological suffering in prison has been granted the right to die under Belgium’s liberal euthanasia laws, paving the way for at least 15 similar requests from other inmates. Frank Van Den Bleeken, a 50-year-old serving life for sexual assault and murder, argued he would never be able to overcome his violent impulses and would spend his life in prison.
“I’m a danger to society,” he told state broadcaster VRT in a documentary earlier this year. “What am I supposed to do? What’s the point in sitting here until the end of time and rotting away? I’d rather be euthanised.”
Van Den Bleeken has been imprisoned for 30 years and asked to end his life three years ago. The board that assesses each case said he had to seek psychological help first but after he failed to find such treatment, his request was granted on Monday.
Van Den Bleeken’s lawyer, Jos Vander Velpen, said his client would be transported to a hospital two days before his death “so he can say his farewells to his family in humanly dignified conditions”.
No date was given for the medically-induced suicide, which will be the first time Belgium’s euthanasia laws have been applied to a serving prisoner. Capital punishment was outlawed in the country in 1996, with the last execution taking place in 1950."
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/murderer-granted-right-to-euthanasia-rather-than-rot-in-b... While Belgium's laws provide its citizens with the right to decide to die, should someone serving a life sentence also be offered this option?
On the one hand it would save money as the state would no longer need to provide for the prisoner, but in the absence of capital punishment, is serving one's sentence an important part of the criminal process?
Would a prisoner opting to die seem 'just' to his victim's family or to wider society?
What do you think?
Image source It is proposed that euthanasia should be an option for prisoners serving life sentences