The District Court of The Hague has ordered the Dutch government to allow a prisoner serving a life sentence to participate in a resocialization program 1.5 year before his sentence comes up for review. This is to work on his return into society. The man has served 23.5 years in prison. The convict relied on the Vinter judgment, in which the ECtHR ruled that a life sentence is inhumane when it is "without any prospect of release" and obliged member states to review life sentences after 25 years. State Secretary Dijkhoff is currently working on such a procedure.