No place in the correctional facility: Berlin gives clan members early freedom

In September 2021, a Berlin court sentenced the member of a well-known clan to seven years in prison for a robbery. A good year later, the convict was already free again due to a lack of space. After all, according to the public prosecutor’s office, the rest of the sentence will not expire.

A clan member convicted after a money transporter robbery has been released from prison due to a lack of space in the correctional facility. The decision to release him from prison dates from February 3, as a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office confirms. “The convicted person was then to be released from custody with immediate effect.”

According to the Berlin “Tagesspiegel”, the person concerned is a member of the well-known Remmo clan. In September 2021, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for attacking a money transporter on Berlin’s Ku’damm because of the particularly serious robbery and dangerous bodily harm. In addition, placement in a rehabilitation center was ordered as a measure.

In the case of longer terms of imprisonment, the imprisonment can be divided: First part of the imprisonment is served in prison, then the measure follows. A decision is then made as to whether the convicted person must continue to serve the remaining sentence or can be released early on probation.

In the specific case, the time in prison was over and the convicted person was to be sent to the penitentiary. However, there are not enough capacities there, says the spokeswoman for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office. “The transfer failed because the forensic hospital reported regularly that it still had no capacity, referred to the waiting list and admission to the forensic facility was not foreseeable until mid-January 2023.”

According to the Berlin judiciary, the man could no longer be held in custody. The responsible health administration was informed of the problems several times, says the spokeswoman. A move to another federal state would have been theoretically possible, but the situation in other federal states is “comparably difficult”. The remaining sentence of the convict does not expire through the release, as the spokeswoman said. He will be summoned again in due course.