Reduxx has learned that the head of the inmate’s committee at a controversy-plagued Dutch women’s prison is a trans-identified male convicted of double homicide. Ter Peel, a women’s prison located in Evertsoord, recently made headlines after a female guard was brutally assaulted by a male inmate.
As previously reported by Reduxx, the assault at Ter Peel occurred earlier this year after a trans-identified male inmate, whose identity has not been disclosed by authorities, started a fire in his cell. A female guard, the first to respond, opened the cell door to assist, only to be viciously attacked. The guard was physically overwhelmed by her assailant, and was hospitalized sustaining severe injuries.
The Dutch Prison and Probation Service (DJI) confirmed the incident but refused to provide details about the perpetrator. The inmate has since been transferred to another facility for aggressive prisoners, though it remains unclear whether this is a men’s or women’s prison.
Now, a new controversy has emerged out of the same prison. Reduxx has learned that a transgender inmate named Sharona Samantha Maria de Jonge, formerly known as Peter, has been serving as the chair of the inmate’s committee at the facility, also known as the Gedeco, representing and making decisions on polices that impact vulnerable female inmates.
De Jonge is a prostitute and convicted double murderer serving a sentence of just under 23 years. Social media profiles belonging to de Jonge reveal that he has a number of disturbing fetishes, which he openly boasted about along with the man who was his accomplice in the murders.
According to Panorama, the pair killed Willem van der Willigen, a 70-year-old retired accountant from Lieshout, and Benito van Ommeren, a 65-year-old Surinamese man, in December of 2023. Both victims were brutally beaten and bludgeoned with weapons – Van der Willigen with a hammer and Van Ommeren with a vase – before being strangled.
A court in Dordrecht sentenced de Jonge to 22 years and 11 months, and his accompliace to 30 years. The prosecutor described the murders as “purely business,” according to Omroep Brabant, but they were marked by a “calculated cruelty.” Following the murder of Van der Willigen, the pair lived in his home for weeks, with de Jonge inviting his prostitution clients to the residence while the owner’s dead body was stashed in another room. De Jonge and his accomplice, who Reduxx can idenitify as Bill Couwenberg, used the victims’ money to fund a lavish lifestyle and drugs until their arrest.
Social media activity uncovered by Reduxx paints a chilling picture of de Jonge’s proclivities. On X (formerly Twitter), he described himself as a “submissive” who was “owned” by Couwenberg, and the two shared explicit pornographic content showcasing themselves engaging in their shared BDSM fetish.
A neighbor in Den Bosch, where de Jonge and Couwenberg lived before the murders, told Panorama that “Sharona was masochistically inclined, so SM sessions took place in the apartment at night.” The neighbors, a family with young children, also reported hearing screams at night, which sounded as though abuse was taking place.
The apartment had become a drug den and an illegal hub for de Jonge’s prostitution, eventually leading to their eviction due to the noise disturbances. Unable to continue offering prostitution services from that location, de Jonge and Couwenberg needed a new base of operations. Their first victim, Willem van der Willigen, was a regular client of Jonge’s who allowed them to stay at his home in exchange for sexual services, while their second victim, Benito van Ommeren, opened his door to the homeless and drug-addicted—hospitality that the pair exploited.
Since being incarcerated with women, de Jonge has been vocal about his support of trans-identified males in women’s prisons.
In a 2024 letter written by de Jonge and published by BONJO, a newspaper distributed to all penitentiary institutions in the Netherlands, de Jonge criticized a previous article about the placement of trans-identified males in women’s prisons and protests by women’s rights activists. Writing the letter in his official capacity as the “chairwoman” of the Ter Peel inmate’s committee, de Jonge claimed: “Here in the prison where I am, the women among themselves experience no problems with the presence of trans women.”
He accused the media of creating a “problem that doesn’t exist in practice,” downplaying the dangers of housing men in women’s prisons and arguing that he should have been consulted for the article to include the perspectives of the inmates he represents.
The placement of trans-identified males in women’s prisons remains a contentious issue in the Netherlands.
In 2023, women gathered outside the courthouse in Dordrecht to protest against the placement of another trans-identified male in Ter Peel following a call to action by Voorzij, a Dutch gender-critical foundation advocating against the relaxation of transgender identity laws.
As previously reported by Reduxx, Daniela, a 32-year-old Chilean national charged with stabbing a man 214 times in a targeted attack on his eyes, ears, and genitals, was placed in Ter Peel in 2023. He was later sentenced to 14 years detention in the women’s prison, a decision that journalist Sybilla Claus called “unacceptable” in her report for De Telegraaf, noting that many incarcerated women are survivors of abuse and trauma.
The recent assault at Ter Peel has reignited calls for policy reform. The Leiden University study highlights that female inmates often feel vulnerable during interactions with staff, exacerbated by power dynamics and a lack of secondary oversight, which can create opportunities for abuse.
Claus echoed these concerns in her recently published article, in which she reported on conversations with formerly incarcerated women in Ter Peel. Claus argues that placing male inmates in women’s prisons jeopardizes the “protection, privacy, and dignity” of female prisoners, many of whom have histories of trauma.
She also noted that female inmates in the Netherlands are typically released after three months because they are rarely convicted of serious crimes, and that trans-identified individuals were previously housed in a secure “Extra Zorg Voorziening” (special care unit) in men’s prisons, questioning why this policy was abandoned and demanding immediate action to address the risks posed by such placements.
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