An-Sofie Vanhouche

An-Sofie Vanhouche holds a PhD in Criminology and works as assistant professor in the Criminology Department. She obtained her Master's degree in 2011 with a thesis entitled: “Innocently imprisoned: The Consequences for People who are Acquitted after Being Remanded in Custody”. In 2017, she successfully defended her PhD, 'Prison Cuisines in Europe. A Comparative Study of Prison Food Systems in Belgium, Tilburg and Denmark', jointly supervised at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Southern Denmark.

Her main research interest lies in the lived experience of imprisonment, participatory research, prison foodways, prison education, and comparative penology. An-Sofie has been involved in several (inter)national studies on imprisonment.

She currently co-supervises two FWO-funded studies, one on the role of religion in prison and one on prison officers. An-Sofie also supports and collaborates with several Belgian NGO’s. She is an active member of the Rescaled movement on small scaled and community integrated forms of detention and Dialoog on restoration. She is also a board member of the general assembly of De Rode Antraciet (culture and sport in prison); and a board member of Klasbak vzw, the Belgian branch of the European prison education association.

Research Line

Penality and Society

Current Research Projects

Jailcraft and training of prison officers in Belgium and the Netherlands

Islam in Flanders prisons in the aftermath of terrorist attacks

Towards a new vision on detention in the prisons of Dendermonde and Haren

Prosecutorial decision-making of the public prosecutor in the context of extended amicable settlement 

Courses (2024-2025)

Penologie en penitentiair recht

Penologie

International Comparative Field Study Visit

Groene criminologie