Associated Press photographer Muhammed Muheisen has documented many of the men, women, and children displaced by unrest in the Middle East, and followed them as they made their way toward Europe. He often found himself wondering “What happens to migrants once they reach Europe?”, and heard about a program in the Netherlands where the government had started housing refugees in vacant prisons. Years of declining crime rates have left the Dutch government searching for ways to put its emptying prisons to good use, and as an influx of refugees reached the Netherlands, the former prisons have temporarily become their homes. Muheisen spent months trying to gain access to the prisons, then, once he was allowed in, he spent another 40 days visiting and photographing asylum seekers from dozens of countries inside these prisons, as they wait to find out what comes next for them.
Refugee Housing: A New Life for Empty Prisons in the Netherlands
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Read moreAfghan refugee Shazia Lutfi, 19, peeks through the door of her room at the former prison of De Koepel in Haarlem, Netherlands, on May 7, 2016. The Dutch government has let Belgium and Norway put prisoners in its empty cells and now, amid the huge flow of migrants into Europe, several prisons have been temporarily pressed into service as asylum-seeker centers. #
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Read moreIranian migrant Reda Ehsan, 25, lies on a table at the former De Koepel prison in Haarlem, Netherlands, on May 6, 2016. #
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Read moreYazidi refugee Yassir Hajji, 24, from Sinjar, Iraq, adjusts the eyebrows of his wife Gerbia, 18, in their room in the former of De Koepel prison in Haarlem on May 1, 2016. #
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Read moreA gay Moroccan migrant, who prefers not to have his name mentioned, poses inside his room at the former prison of De Koepel on April 26, 2016. #
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Read moreA migrant plays with a girl at the former prison of Westlingen in Heerhugowaard, northwestern Netherlands, on April 8, 2016. #
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Read moreMongolian migrant Naaran Baatar, 40, plays basketball in a yard of the former prison of De Koepel on April 20, 2016. #
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Read moreSyrian refugee Alaa Mohammed, 35, watches television in his room at the former prison of De Koepel on April 29, 2016. #
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Read moreAfghan refugee Siratullah Hayatullah, 23, washes in a laundry room in the former prison of De Koepel on May 1, 2016. #
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Read moreIn this April 26, 2016 photo, Somali migrant Ijaawa Mohamed, 41, sits on a chair outside a room in the women’s section of the former prison of De Koepel. #
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Read moreRefugees and migrants line up to receive their lunch in the former prison of De Koepel on April 20, 2016. #
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Read moreA migrant sits outside her room while another runs in the corridor of the women section of the former prison of De Koepel on April 26, 2016. #
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Read moreIn this April 20, 2016 photo, Iraqi refugee Fatima Hussein, 65, prays inside her room in the former De Koepel prison. #
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Read moreA Dutch volunteer teaches an Afghan refugee woman how to ride a bicycle in a yard in the former De Koepel prison on May 2, 2016. #
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Read moreIraqi refugee Fatima Hussein, 65, and others wait in a bus heading to a government interview for their asylum-seeking process outside the former prison of De Koepel in Haarlem on May 6, 2016. #
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Read moreAfghan refugee Siratullah Hayatullah, 23, drinks tea by the doorway of his room in De Koepel prison on May 1, 2016. #
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Read moreRefugees and migrants play football in the former De Koepel prison in Haarlem, Netherlands, on May 10, 2016. #
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