It's tough to know whether you can believe everything that he comes out with on a first date. Especially if he is a criminal.

Does he really work with disabled children? Was he really a submarine captain?

Things are simpler in the Netherlands. Next week a new relationship website starts for prison inmates looking for someone special on the outside. Dutch authorities are promoting the site because inmates with partners are less likely to reoffend.

All inmates will have to list their age and WLTM interests on a central database, as well as how long they have left to serve. But there will be no compulsion to go into details about the crime behind the conviction.

“It is not our business to tell them to write this down but if someone starts communicating with them, they can ask about it,” said Nico Epskamp, of the prisoner welfare group Bonjo.

“If people react to our website, they know there is a convict involved. It is not like on other internet sites, where people do not know what they have to face.” Prison inmates are barred from using the internet themselves, so Epskamp's group will mediate in the online dating process.

And being detained at Her Majesty's (Queen Beatrix's) Pleasure does not mean that new relationships cannot be consummated, with the liberally applied Dutch policy of conjugal visits.

“Relationships often break down when people are in prison,” Epskamp said.

“It is difficult to find a new partner during the detention period. This is a pity, because a relationship increases the likelihood of remaining on the straight and narrow.” There are 15,000 inmates in the Netherlands and interest in joining the scheme is said to be intense as word has spread through the country's jails.

“You need to be alert, but this is always the case if you date a stranger. Some women like the idea of starting a relationship with a convicted criminal.”

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