At a time when the world is facing crime and countries – especially the poorest – have prison facilities at capacity and others, such as in El Salvador, are building mega prisons for gang members, In Estonia the situation is different and they actually have plenty of space in the penalties.
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In response, authorities are considering renting out their prison cells – about half of which are currently empty – to other countries, Justice Minister Liisa Pakosta said on Sunday.
Bringing foreign prisoners to the Baltic country would bring in at least 30 million euros a year in revenue, she said in an interview with public broadcaster ERR.
Pakosta explained that there is also the possibility of selling the buildings in their entirety, but said that this option is “stupid” from his point of view, since it would not be easy to find another use for these facilities and because it is possible that crime rates will increase in the coming years.
“Rent-out prison spaces is something that is already done in Europe. It is quite common for the need for them to fluctuate over time in different countries and for help to be sought from other countries,” he said.
“Rent-out prison spaces is something that is already done in Europe. It is quite common for the need for them to fluctuate over time in different countries and for help to be sought from other countries.”
Among the benefits, he mentioned the income that would be generated and the creation of new jobs, as well as the preservation of the facilities in the event of a possible armed conflict in the future.
Estonia, along with Lithuania, Ireland and Greece, is one of the few European countries where the prison population has decreased in recent years, according to data from the Council of Europe.
Last week, the head of Estonia’s prison service, Rait Kuuse, reported that 50 percent of the country’s roughly 3,000 prison places were unfilled and said Britain and Sweden had expressed interest in renting some of them to house their own prisoners.
“Renting out prisons is a good opportunity for a country to maintain its infrastructure and retain its skilled workforce with sufficient training,” he argued.
Kuuse also recalled that Norway rented prison places in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2018 and that Denmark has reached an agreement with Kosovo for the Balkan country to accommodate 300 prisoners of foreign nationality. Belgium also sent its prisoners and prison officers to Dutch prisons for an annual fee between 2010 and 2016.
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