Finland Considers Renting Prison Space Abroad Amid Overcrowding

Finland is considering sending prisoners abroad to serve their terms to ease its overcrowded prison system. On Thursday (Sep 17), the Ministry of Justice published a study examining the legal conditions for renting prison places from another country. According to figures from the Prison and Probation Service cited by the ministry, Finland currently has about 3,900 prisoners, of whom 950 are foreign nationals.

Although no country has been selected and Finland is yet to start formal negotiations, Justice Minister Leena Meri said the decision requires further examination as the issue raises constitutional questions.

“I consider it important that, because of overcrowding in our prisons, we examine what such a model would require in practice from the perspective of our legislation,” Meri was quoted as saying by the Helsinki Times.

The number of foreign prisoners in Finland has risen by 76 per cent over the past decade. Their increase accounted for about four-fifths of the overall rise in Finland's prison population during the same period. Drug offences account for 49 per cent of principal offences, sexual offences for 21 per cent and homicides for 10 per cent.

The study highlighted that the Finnish government was closely monitoring the prison-sharing arrangement between Sweden and Estonia, as well as Denmark and Kosovo. Apart from building domestic prison capacity, the study stated that efforts were underway to transfer foreign prisoners to their home countries and improve deportation-related processes.

Also Read | 'Think Twice Before Leaving India': Expat's Reality Check About Rs 77 Lakh Salary In Germany

Sweden Sends Prisoners To Estonia

On Friday (Sep 18), the first Swedish prisoners arrived in Estonia following a cell-sharing deal that was signed in June last year. A plane carrying four Swedish prisoners recently landed at Amari military airport, about an hour's drive from Estonia's capital Tallinn

As per the deal, it was finalised that Estonia would partly lease its unoccupied prisons to Sweden, with 600 prisoners expected to move into rented cells in Tartu, the country's second-largest city.