On Thursday, the day after the deal was signed in Stockholm, Prison Service chief Rait Kuuse breifed Tartu City Council on the agreement.

The Reform Party, which governs Estonia's second-largest city, views the prison rental arrangement more as an opportunity to enhance internal security.

"We've been looking at this issue as a whole, and given that the prison is an important part of our internal security structure, it's important to us that a prison remain in Tartu," said Mihkel Lees, deputy chair of the council's Reform Party group. "In fact, in the broader context of internal security, it also matters that we retain those several hundred qualified jobs tied to the internal security sector."

Lees believes the public shouldn't be alarmed by the Tartu prison lease agreement. The opposition Center Party and Isamaa, however, argue that too many questions remain unanswered.

"It's only natural that Tartu City Council would take up this issue and receive competent information," said Tõnis Lukas, a council member and member of Isamaa. "But the fact that this is happening after the agreement was signed — that's already kind of scandalous. We don't have adequate answers as to whether the deal and Swedish funding account for the additional burden it will place on [Estonia's] courts, Prosecutor's Office and healthcare system."

Both Lukas and Center Party councilmember Jaan Toots are convinced that the indirect costs tied to the prison lease — such as healthcare and law enforcement — will significantly eat into the revenue the deal is expected to generate. There are also doubts about what impact bringing inmates to Tartu could have on the city's reputation.  

"I think of our city as a university town, a city of young people, a peaceful city," Toots said. "And now we're the ones bringing in up to 600 inmates who have been locked up for serious crimes — both rapes and murders, that's what we were told. What troubles me most is that on Monday, two ministers signed the agreement, which clearly stated that many of the details remain unspecified. That really gives you pause."

The agreement will not take effect until it has been ratified by both the Riigikogu and the Riksdag, Estonia and Sweden's respective parliaments.

The lease is initially set for five years, and would allow up to 600 inmates to be housed at Tartu Prison. If implemented, the Estonian state would receive more than €60 million a year for the deal.

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