STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden will send up to 600 criminals to serve their sentences in an Estonian prison under an agreement announced by the government on Wednesday aimed at reducing pressure on the country’s overcrowded jails.
From July next year, Sweden will be able to send men over 18 who are convicted of crimes ranging from murder to sexual offences to the prison in the Estonian city of Tartu. The agreement needs to be approved by parliament in both countries.
“The whole prison will be placed at Sweden’s disposal,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told reporters.
“Sweden’s prison system .. is under tremendous pressures and in that situation needs a plan for expansion to deal with that.”
Sweden will pay 8,500 euros ($9,680) a month per inmate, a saving on the average 11,500 euros a month cost in Sweden.
A wave of gang-related violence over the last decade has led to tougher laws and sentencing in Sweden pushing up the prison population.
In May, around 7,300 inmates were held in 5,235 cells – an occupancy rate of 141%, figures from the Swedish Prison and Probation Service showed. Including standby accommodation, the occupancy rate was 96%.
The Prison Service reckons 30,000 people could be locked up in Sweden in 10 years.
Belgium and Norway have hired prison places in the Netherlands. Denmark has an agreement with Kosovo, a move heavily criticised by Danish human rights experts.
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(Reporting by Simon Johnson, editing by Ed Osmond)
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