Breda's dome prison was part of a judicial complex in the center of Breda. The former prison is one of three dome prisons in the Netherlands. He housed part of the De Boschpoort penitentiary. This had three parts: a detention center, a prison and a department with extra care places.
Until January 2013, there was also a women's prison. The women were transferred to the Ter Peel penitentiary in Horst aan de Maas. On March 22, 2013, it was announced that the entire prison would be closed due to budget cuts. The next department closed in 2014. The rest of the complex was definitively closed as a penitentiary on 1 January 2016. There was a lot of protest against this in Breda, the mayor said he was sad about it. The dome prison was built in the period 1882-1886 to a design by the justice architect Johan Metzelaar, who previously designed the comparable dome prison in Arnhem. The building was designed according to the panopticon principle devised by Briton Jeremy Bentham in 1791: from the center of the circular complex, the guards could keep a constant eye on the prisoners.
The complex was designated a national monument in 2001. In mid-2007 a procedure was started to declare the area around De Koepel a protected cityscape. The entire complex, with the exception of the row of custodian houses along Nassaustraat, is owned by the State and managed by the Central Government Real Estate Agency. In 2021, the dome prison was put up for sale by the Central Government Real Estate Agency.
Guided tours have been regularly organized by the facility for several decades. In May 2005 a kind of 'open day' was organized for the first time by the Ministry of Justice. 75 people were allowed to come and watch that day
The three of Breda The Breda three were three German war criminals who were serving life sentences in the Koepelgevangenis in Breda. They were the last war criminals imprisoned in the Netherlands. Initially, there were four of them: Willy Lages, Joseph Kotälla, Franz Fischer and Ferdinand aus der Fünten. All four had been involved in the persecution of the Jews. In 1966 Willy Lages was deported to Germany after all. Doctors say he was terminally ill. That later turned out not to be true. But the Four of Breda then became the Three of Breda. In the late 1960s, discussions arose about the release of the three remaining prisoners. A clemency petition was filed by the three. Ultimately, the House voted against the release of the Drie van Breda. Kotälla passed away in 1979. Ten years later, Fischer and Aus der Fünten were released. Both were very elderly and died shortly after their release.
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