I will state at the outset that I do not represent any political party. What follows is my personal opinion based on nearly 35 years of work experience in the prison system, the first 14 of which I spent working in Estonia and the past 21 in the Finnish Prison and Probation Service at Helsinki Prison up to the present day.

Having followed the discussion on leasing out prison space, I have noticed statements ranging from those praising the idea to others condemning it outright. Yet none of these commentators have addressed the core issue — the work of guarding prisoners arriving from Sweden at Tartu Prison.

It is, of course, pleasant to talk about the influx of funds expected to arrive shortly and to celebrate the strengthening of internal security in the Tartu region and the creation of new jobs. But the actual, day-to-day work will nevertheless be carried out by prison officers.

So how, and by whom, will this new contingent be dealt with directly and what will this new incoming reality look like? Drawing on my 21 years of work experience at Helsinki Prison and knowing that Scandinavian prisons are similar in nature, I can predict what prison officers' work with foreign inmates will be like.

Do foreign prisoners want to serve time in Estonia?

They do not. Even Estonians serving time in foreign prisons do not want it. Take Finland as an example, where the theoretical possibility of transferring prisoners to Estonia to serve their sentences has surfaced in the media. Finland's closed prisons are also overcrowded.

Naturally, inmates picked up on this piece of information. The reaction was unequivocal: being sent to Estonia to serve a sentence would be regarded as an additional punishment and no one wants that. Finnish prisoners believed that, in such a case, foreign nationals incarcerated in Finland who do not hold Finnish citizenship should be the ones transferred from Finland to Estonia.

It would be naive to assume that Swedish prisoners would eagerly wish to make their conditions of incarceration significantly harsher and request a transfer to an Estonian prison. Despite overcrowding, conditions in Swedish prisons are many times more lenient than in Estonian prisons.

Over the past two decades, I have escorted a few hundred prisoners originally from Estonia from Helsinki Prison to prisons in Estonia after their deportation orders took effect. Most of them wished to serve their sentences to completion in a Finnish prison and appealed the deportation decision. After all, it is easy enough to spend time in a Finnish prison — watching television through the night, playing PlayStation, exercising and working if one feels inclined — compared with Estonian prisons where that is not possible.

Who will come?

Sweden's desire to ease overcrowding in its prisons is understandable. And since there are vacant prison places in Estonia, it is likewise understandable that the interests of the two countries align. However, we must be aware of the kind of group that will be arriving in Estonia. Many opinions have been expressed on this point. I would venture to assert that few ethnic Swedes holding Swedish passports will be coming to Tartu; the majority of arriving inmates will be foreigners even by Sweden's standards.

In Scandinavian prisons, the proportion of foreign inmates has steadily increased over the years and continues to grow. For example, more than 60 different nationalities have passed through Vantaa Remand Prison in Finland over the course of a single year.

Across Scandinavia, the share of foreign inmates increased particularly after the 2015 refugee wave. Of all the Scandinavian countries, Swedish prisons have the highest proportion of foreign nationals.

It must also be understood that a large number of inmates may hold the passport of one or another Scandinavian country, while their ethnic background is something else entirely. The largest nationality groups come from the Arab world, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkan countries. Most foreign inmates are Muslims.

The Estonian media has spoken extensively about the sentences of the 600 prisoners set to arrive in Tartu and about how dangerous they are. There has been discussion of background checks on the incoming prisoners, which are, of course, necessary. The fact remains that the arriving inmates are criminals with prior convictions and they are likely to be primarily young men between the ages of 20 and 35.

From the perspective of a prison officer, the number of incoming inmates is very large. And they are difficult to supervise due to their distinct characteristics, as this incoming group of prisoners is highly specific.

Reeducation?

On the day inmates sent from Sweden meet newly trained, as well as experienced, officers at Tartu Prison, two very different worlds will collide.

The main problem will not be language, but differing expectations about the course of imprisonment. The prison lease agreement naturally requires that all inmates serving sentences in Estonia do so in accordance with Estonian law. And this is precisely where the central issue arises — one that security staff will have to confront as soon as the first prisoners arrive. Prison officers will be required to press inmates from Sweden into Estonia's legal framework. I am convinced there will certainly be resistance and misunderstanding. It is unrealistic to assume that newly recruited officers who have just completed accelerated training will cope with the situation easily.

Estonian prison staff lack experience working with large numbers of foreign inmates. The handful of foreign prisoners officers may previously have dealt with does not provide experience comparable to supervising 600 foreign nationals.

The Ministry of Justice has stated that the incoming inmates will be guarded by existing Tartu Prison officers and several hundred newly recruited staff. If new officers are only recruited this spring, then trained and the first foreign inmates arrive in the second half of the year, preparation time will be insufficient. Officers should already have been recruited and should already be receiving training and practical experience in Estonian prisons.

When foreign inmates first began arriving at Helsinki Prison, it was also a significant development. However, their gradual increase over decades gave both inmates and staff time to adapt. In Estonia, by contrast, a large number of foreign prisoners will arrive all at once within a short period.

The daily work of prison officers under these new conditions will undoubtedly be tense. It must be taken into account that in some cultures, orders and instructions given by a woman — a female officer — are not obeyed. Whether the female officer is qualified and competent is beside the point. Insults are certainly to be expected, particularly toward female officers who will need an exceptionally high tolerance for stress.

It must also be considered that the incoming inmates communicate in a manner that, in our cultural space, is very loud — so loud that an Estonian may perceive it as aggression.

In Scandinavian prisons, all measures regulating inmate behavior are based on positive incentives; in Estonian prisons, the motivational package offered to inmates is far more limited. Problems will undoubtedly arise from this difference. Prisoners arriving from Sweden will expect conditions similar to those they had there.

Under the prison lease agreement, Swedish inmates cannot be punished with anything more than a reprimand. This is certainly not a sufficient measure for regulating inmate behavior. And if an inmate becomes a security threat, he may be sent out of Estonia. But perhaps that is exactly what he wants?

And one more question: how will the future inmates occupy their time at Tartu Prison? Based on my experience, they are unlikely to take up work. And will such work even be offered? Hopefully, the intention is not simply to "warehouse" Swedish prisoners, but to provide them with meaningful activities, since idleness in prison is a very poor option and a breeding ground for problems.

Special treatment

It has been stated that no special distinctions will be made. Yet it is already known that those arriving from Sweden will be allowed nicotine pouches and provided with televisions by the Estonian state. Other inmates — so to speak, Estonia's "domestic prisoners" — must purchase a television at their own expense and nicotine is prohibited.

It can also be assumed that prisoners from Sweden will have specific demands that will later be accommodated: special diets, Friday prayers, Ramadan observance. This would place domestic inmates in an unequal position. In this way, a kind of dual system would emerge within Estonia's prison system — one set of conditions for domestic prisoners and another, more favorable set for foreign inmates.

Security risks

As for foreign inmates in custody, whatever takes place within prison walls is unlikely to pose risks beyond them. However, when it comes to visitors, there is indeed some degree of risk because no one can prevent relatives from traveling to Tartu to visit an incarcerated family member.

Officials at the Ministry of Justice claim that there will be no visitors. But 600 inmates is a very large number. It would take only a few of them receiving visitors for problems to arise. It has been said that prison visitors will undergo background checks. In Estonia, prison officers are required to ask visitors to undress in order to check for prohibited items being brought into the prison. Significant misunderstandings can be anticipated.

If a visitor arrives but, for some reason, is not admitted to the prison, that person may be left lingering in Tartu and could become a security risk. Let us hope we do not see a tent camp of relatives forming in the Tartu Prison parking lot — something the police would then have to deal with.

In summary

The Ministry of Justice presents only the positive aspects that would accompany bringing prisoners from Sweden to Estonia. But 600 inmates is a very large number. Whether 300 or 600 prisoners are brought to Estonia, their specific characteristics will make the work of prison officers extremely difficult. Problems will certainly arise and those problems will create an additional workload for Estonian public servants and officials — the police, the courts and others.

In 1996, I attended a meeting of the Prison Administration where the establishment of a prison in Tartu was discussed. In 2002, I was present at the opening of Tartu Prison. Now we are once again debating the future of Tartu Prison.

For nearly 35 years, I have worked in the prison system and I have presented my opinion based on that experience. Bringing prisoners from Sweden to Estonia is a risky undertaking.

Lasse Liikane is a prison officer at Helsinki Prison. He has worked as a self-defense instructor at the Training Center of the Criminal Sanctions Agency, as head of the Prison Administration's Training Center and head of its Human Resources Department and as deputy director of Maardu Prison.

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