The Only Moroccan Channel Disappears from the Prison, Three Inmates Try to Bring It Back
Three separate complaints were filed after the only Moroccan television channel available at the Belgian prison of Merksplas disappeared. The competent commission rejected them all: the removal had been decided by the package provider, not by the prison authorities.
The three complaints were filed on 27 January 2026 and forwarded four days later to the commission responsible for examining complaints from inmates at Merksplas prison, in the province of Antwerp.
Cases KC21/26-0017, KC21/26-0018 and KC21/26-0019 concern exactly the same problem: the only Moroccan channel offered at the facility was no longer available. The decisions specify neither the name of the removed channel nor the nationality of the three complainants.
The prison authorities were asked to respond as early as 2 February. The following day, they explained that they had made no decision concerning the disappearance of the Moroccan channel.
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According to the facility, the choice of channels accessible to inmates falls under the responsibility of the television provider. It was therefore this external service provider that allegedly modified the package offered to the prison.
The three decisions were issued on 25 April by the Merksplas Complaints Commission. They can be consulted on the official portal of Belgian penitentiary case law, notably in the KC21/26-0017 case file.
The commission refuses to examine the channel’s removal
The commission did not rule on whether it was appropriate to keep a Moroccan channel at the facility. It examined only its own jurisdiction.
Under Belgian penitentiary legislation, an inmate may challenge before it a decision made by the prison director or on the director’s behalf. In this case, however, the disappearance of the channel resulted from the television provider’s choice.
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The complaints were therefore declared inadmissible. The commission could neither review the provider’s decision nor order the channel to be restored.
