Preparations underway in Estonian prisons for receiving Swedish prisoners
Legislatively, almost everything is in place for bringing Swedish prisoners to Estonia, with only the prison lease agreement still awaiting promulgation by the president. Recruitment of new prison officers for Tartu Prison is currently underway.
The Swedish and Estonian parliaments have approved the prison lease agreement. The Riigikogu has also passed legislative amendments allowing foreign inmates to be housed in Estonia, which President Alar Karis recently promulgated. As the final legal step, Karis is expected to promulgate the prison agreement as well.
Preparations for the prisoners' arrival are underway, including the recruitment of 300 prison officers.
"If the agreement enters into force, August could be the first month when the first foreign inmates arrive. The arrivals will be gradual and it will take just under a year to reach the maximum capacity set out in the agreement, which is up to 600 prisoners," said Rait Kuuse, deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Justice's prisons department.
About 100 Swedish inmates would arrive in Tartu each quarter until the agreed capacity is reached. Prison officers at Tartu Prison are being offered salaries starting at €2,400 a month, meaning some people currently working elsewhere in Estonia's internal security sector could switch to prison work.
"That may happen in individual cases, but these are still very different jobs. I think Estonia's internal security sector stands to benefit if we have more people. We will train significantly more people than we did before," Interior Minister Igor Taro (Eesti 200) said.
The prison, which was built to house 1,000 inmates, will effectively be reserved for Swedish prisoners from August onward. The inmates transferred there will be men serving sentences generally for violent or drug-related crimes. They will be allowed to leave the prison grounds only in exceptional circumstances.
Kuuse said visits are expected to be infrequent.
"The only reason they might leave would be under armed escort to receive medical treatment that cannot be provided on the prison grounds. Of course, we cannot prohibit visits and contact. However, experience has shown that inmates primarily use phone calls and video visits," he added.
Editor: Marcus Turovski, Valner Väino
