The Sweden agreement will be a learning curve which must be negotiated first, before any more agreements with other interested countries can be considered, Pakosta said.

Pakosta made her remarks after Belgian media recently reported that country is considering renting space in Estonia's prisons to relieve overcrowding in its own jails,.

"We have made it absolutely clear that this government and this composition of the Riigikogu will not be discussing any additional prison rental issues. And if there should ever be interest in doing so, then that can be addressed by the next administration," Pakosta told ERR on Thursday.

"Let's not get carried away with interpretations — it was also stated in the Belgian article that prison rental is not being discussed with the current Estonian government and that, if it were to come up at all, it would be with the next government," Pakosta went on.

There is nonetheless broad international interest in Estonia's prison service, its modern prisons and its advanced digital solutions, and it was in this context that the Belgian ministers were visiting Estonia, Pakosta said.

This is not to say there is no spare capacity, Pakosta noted: One of the Viru Prison buildings has been standing empty for several years and could be used to house foreign inmates if the decision were made on that, she said. "The next government can decide whether this empty building continues to be maintained with taxpayers' money or whether a better use is found for it. For example, 60 additional jobs could be created in Ida-Viru County. But all of that is for the next government to decide and consider."

As for the prison rental agreement concluded with Sweden last summer, which will see Swedish prisoners start arriving at Tartu Prison in the second half of the year, as things stand, Pakosta said the mood surrounding this has been positive.

The agreement has passed its first Riigikogu reading (of two), and the chair of the Riigikogu's Legal Affairs Committee, Madis Timpson (Reform), told ERR on Wednesday that consultation is still ongoing; for example, Tartu city leaders are to join the committee for a meeting next week. Timpson said the agreement should be ratified next month. The ratification of international agreements requires two readings in the Riigikogu, compared with three readings for standard domestic legislation.

The agreement will also need to be ratified by the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament, and this has not happened yet.

According to Pakosta, implementing the agreement with Sweden will be a learning curve. "If we move forward with this project, it will certainly also be a learning experience to see how it goes. The agreement provides for several options to terminate it if even the slightest thing were to threaten security or if anything were to worsen. So let's first try to get this one project up and running and see how it goes," the justice minister said.

She nevertheless stressed that the police and the Internal Security Service (ISS) have thoroughly analyzed all risks and that all of these have been mitigated.

"In other words, everything we are aware of has been mitigated and everything should proceed completely safely, but we have no plans to expand this activity in any way or to change it in any way," Pakosta concluded.

Under the agreement between Estonia and Sweden, up to 600 convicted inmates are planned to be relocated to Estonia. The lease is for five years.

Belgian media reported on Wednesday that Belgium's minister for asylum and migration and minister of justice had visited Estonia to explore the options for relocating Belgian inmates in Estonia.

Other countries which had been speculatively linked with the scheme when it was first floated in early 2025 included the U.K. and the Netherlands. In most cases this relates to overcrowding in the prison system at a time when Estonia's prisons, with the exception of Tallinn, are under-utilized.

The three main prisons in Estonia are in Tallinn, Tartu and Jõhvi (Viru Prison).

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