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Sweden starts moving prisoners to leased prison space in Estonia
The first Swedish inmates have arrived in Tartu under a five-year deal. The arrangement is meant to ease overcrowding in Sweden’s prison system and has drawn criticism in both countries.
The first prisoners transferred from Sweden have arrived in Estonia under an agreement to use prison space in Tartu, according to EUobserver in a report first published by Deník N.
The deal allows Sweden to send up to 600 inmates to Estonia. A first flight recently brought four Swedish prisoners to Ämari military airport, from where they were taken under police escort to Tartu, Estonia’s second-largest city.
According to the report, 100 prisoners are expected to be at the facility by October, and the number could reach 200 by the end of the year. More transfers are expected next year.
Sweden has faced a shortage of prison places in recent years amid rising gang-related violence and tougher sentencing. EUobserver reported that the prison population doubled between 2015 and 2025 to more than 11,200. Joakim Righammar, head of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, recently described the system as being in crisis because of overcrowding.
Estonia, by contrast, has spare capacity. Nearly half of its prison cells are empty and occupancy is around 60 percent, one of the lowest rates in the European Union, the outlet said. At Tartu prison, about two-thirds of capacity had been unused. Estonia now has around 1,600 people behind bars, the lowest figure since the country regained independence in 1991.
Negotiations ended last June with a five-year agreement. Sweden will pay €30.6m per year for 300 prisoners. If it sends more, up to another 300, it will pay an additional €8,500 per prisoner per month. According to the article, keeping those inmates in Sweden could cost as much as €11,500 per person each month.
When the deal was announced, Swedish justice minister Gunnar Strömmer said it would significantly ease pressure on Sweden’s prison system. His Estonian counterpart, Pakosta, described it as historic and said it could strengthen prison infrastructure and create jobs in Estonia.
Estonian law will apply in the part of Tartu prison used by Sweden. Swedish prison officers will also be on site to train Estonian staff, who will speak English with the inmates. EUobserver reported that each prisoner is entitled to a bed, chair, table, television, radio, alarm clock, wardrobe, mirror and window coverings.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
