In 1818 things were not going very well in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of the current countries Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The kingdom had fought and lost several wars and trade was not at the levels it used to be. There was widespread poverty, particulary in the cities. Government and churches failed to solve the problems, so a group of people from more prosperous circles, under the leadership of a former army officer, set up an organisation in order to combat poverty: De Maatschappij van Weldadigheid (the Society of Benevolence.

Orphans, handicapped people, beggars, prostitutes, vagrants and others living in poverty did get a new change by working in a reform housing colony. The first one Frederiksoord was built in 1818. Families were given homes and a piece of land. Men grew their own crops on the land and women spinned yarn. Everything they received was in the form of a loan, which they repaid through work.

After a couple of ‘free’ colonies for the poor, the Society also set up unfree colonies for beggars, vagrants and orphans who did not wish to move to the countryside of their own free will. The residents were referred to as ‘patients’, but as a matter of fact they were prisoners..

Veenhuizen - built in 1823 - was the second ‘unfree’ settlement in the Netherlands. The settlement grew and grew and became a large institution. It was run differently and the the ‘patients’ were constantly monitored by guards. The settlement was built on reclaimed peatland. ‘Patients’ were on a tightly controlled daily schedule and work was a form of therapy. Compulsory attendance at a place of worship was also mandatory, no matter where - a catholic or protestant church or a synagoge.

In the 20th century the unfree colony inVeenhuizen was converted into an official prison. The colony still serves as a penal establishment with two prisons. One of the former buildings (main picture and PiP’s) nowadays houses the National Prison Museum. The museum also shows what life in the colony of Veenhuizen was like.