Estonia: Number of prisoners falls below 2,000 for first time

For the first time since the restoration of independence, the number of prisoners in Estonia has dropped below 2,000, BNS reports. There are now a total of 1,994 prisoners in Estonian prisons, with 202 of them serving sentences in open prisons. The number of offenders under the supervision of probation officers on a daily basis remains relatively stable at 3,294. The Department of Prisons attributes the decline in the prisoner population to the expanded availability and use of alternatives to incarceration over the past two decades. Also, there has been a decrease in the imprisonment of minors and young people.