Estonia: Prisons may begin housing foreign inmates: Justice Minister

Estonia is considering housing foreign prisoners in one of its prisons, Justice Minister Liisa Pakosta announced, BBC reports. Estonia’s three prisons in Tallinn, Tartu, and Jõhvi have room for around 1,000 additional prisoners, according to ERR. Pakosta estimated that the state could earn up to EUR 30mn per year from renting out prison space to countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK, ERR reported. She has discussed the idea with UK Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, and British officials have visited Estonia’s Tartu prison. Prisons in the UK are suffering from record overcrowding, whereas half of all prison places in Estonia are empty due to low crime rates. However, the new UK government has no plans to move prisoners to Estonia, deeming the scheme too expensive. Meanwhile, Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets criticised the idea, pointing to possible security and reputational risks, ERR reported. Also, the Office of the Chancellor of Justice highlighted possible ethical, legal, and practical problens with the scheme, ERR reported. Pakosta dismissed the criticism, insisting that Estonian prisons were very safe and that maintaining empty prison space was costly.