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’, jointly supervised at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Southern Denmark and published in the Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology Series ‘Prison Food - Identity, Meaning, Practices, and Symbolism in European Prisons’

Her main research interest lies in the lived experience of imprisonment, participatory (action) research, comparative criminology and green criminology. An-Sofie has been involved in several national and international studies on imprisonment as well as scientific networks on this topic.

She currently (co) supervises several studies: The role of religion in prison (FWO); Prison Officers (FWO); Palliative Care in Prison (FWO); Othering in Criminology (SRP Funding); Voting in Prison (SRP Funding); The needs of imprisoned persons in Belgian’s new prisons (ESF);  Prison Food in the Netherlands (DJI); Soft Penal Power and Migration Control in Belgium (SRP&OZR); Prosecutorial case-ending decisions (Faculty Funding) and Children with imprisoned parents (Faculty Funding). She is also the co-chair of the Prison Working Group of the European Society of Criminology and chairs the FWO Network for comparative research on innovative detention policies and practices.

An-Sofie also supports and collaborates with several Belgian NGO’s and she is an active member of the Rescaled movement on small scaled and community integrated forms of detention.

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