Prisons full due to gang violence Sweden wants to export prisoners to Estonia
Up to 600 offenders from Sweden could come to Tartu from next year.
Image: dpa
A prison wing in Tartu, which could soon be housing criminals from Sweden.
Image: dpa
View of the prison.
Image: dpa
Kuuse describes the prison as ultra-modern.
Image: dpa
An offender from Sweden could soon be sitting behind this door.
Image: dpa
The head of the Estonian prison system, Rait Kuuse.
Image: dpa
The Swedish Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strömmer.
Image: dpa
Many cells are currently unoccupied.
Image: dpa
With its bright colors, the prison looks like a kind of hostel with a castle.
Image: dpa
Up to 600 offenders from Sweden could come to Tartu from next year.
Image: dpa
A prison wing in Tartu, which could soon be housing criminals from Sweden.
Image: dpa
View of the prison.
Image: dpa
Kuuse describes the prison as ultra-modern.
Image: dpa
An offender from Sweden could soon be sitting behind this door.
Image: dpa
The head of the Estonian prison system, Rait Kuuse.
Image: dpa
The Swedish Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strömmer.
Image: dpa
Many cells are currently unoccupied.
Image: dpa
With its bright colors, the prison looks like a kind of hostel with a castle.
Image: dpa
In Sweden, prisons are bursting at the seams, but in Estonia there is more space than anywhere else in the EU. This has led to a special deal. A site visit to the prison in Tartu.
02.08.2025, 22:41
02.08.2025, 22:49
dpa
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- According to the statistics authority Eurostat, Sweden has one of the highest prison occupancy rates of all EU countries.
- One of the main reasons for this is that gang crime has been rampant in the country for years.
- In Estonia, on the other hand, the prison occupancy rate is the lowest in the EU.
- Sweden therefore now wants to rent up to 400 cells to house up to 600 prisoners in total.
- The first transfers could take place in the fall of next year.
- Estonia is to receive a minimum payment of 30.6 million euros (around 28.5 million Swiss francs) per year for the provision of 300 prison places.
Seemingly endless corridors lead to the cells, which are locked with heavy metal doors and equipped with wooden furniture and bunk beds inside. At first glance, the prison wing in Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu, hardly differs from those in prisons in other countries. And yet many things are different there - not just the bright yellow and purple walls and doors. Many cells in the prison are empty - only just under 300 of the total 933 prison places are occupied. This is why hundreds of offenders from Sweden will soon be housed here.
"Estonia has carried out very successful reforms in criminal policy and we now have more prison places than we need for our own requirements," says the head of the Estonian prison service, Rait Kuuse, during a site visit to the prison, which was newly opened in 2002, on the background to a government agreement signed in mid-June. It provides for the rental of up to 400 cells by Sweden, in which a total of up to 600 prisoners are to be housed. The first transfers could take place in the fall of next year.
Swedish prisons are getting crowded
According to the statistics authority Eurostat, Sweden has one of the highest prison occupancy rates of all EU countries: In the most recent comparative year, 2023, the occupancy rate in the Scandinavian country was 112.6 - meaning that the Swedish prison system has to house more offenders than it has places available. Only Cyprus, France, Italy and Belgium have an even greater shortage of places.
One of the main reasons for the crowding behind Swedish bars is that gang crime has been rampant in the country for years. Rival gangs vie for power in the lucrative drug market, fighting each other with violent methods, which repeatedly leads to fatal shootings and explosions in front of apartment buildings - a phenomenon that does not fit in at all with the idea of a peaceful Bullerbü Sweden.
The government in Stockholm declared war on the gangs some time ago. It has introduced stricter laws and equipped the police with new resources and powers. Head of government Ulf Kristersson repeatedly makes it clear that the fight against the gangs cannot be won overnight, but could take years. Years in which the situation in Swedish prisons is likely to remain tense.
One man's worry, another man's business?
This is why Sweden has turned its attention to Estonia - the country with the lowest occupancy rate (56.2) in the entire EU. The number of inmates there has more than halved since 2010, reaching a record low. This has been achieved through legislative changes, better crime prevention and prevention work. Estonia, for example, is increasingly relying on electronic monitoring and suspended sentences.
According to Kuuse, only just over half of the country's total of around 3,000 prison places are currently occupied. "We didn't expect the numbers to fall so quickly and are in some ways a victim of our own success," he says. And so the idea of renting out the prison places matured. Estonia also held talks with the UK and the Netherlands. However, concrete negotiations only took place with Sweden, which resulted in the intergovernmental agreement that now has to be ratified by both parliaments.
According to the agreement, Estonia is to receive a minimum payment of 30.6 million euros per year (around 28.5 million Swiss francs) for the provision of 300 prison places. For each additional place, Sweden must pay 8,500 euros (around 7,900 francs) per month per prisoner - according to Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, this is still 3,000 euros a month cheaper than housing offenders in Sweden.
However, Kuuse emphasizes that this is not purely about money. The prison in Tartu is a very expensive and modern facility, and it makes no sense to demolish the underutilized facility, as Estonia may still need it in the future. Renting out the cells would also enable the prison staff employed in other areas of internal security to be retained. The agreement is therefore advantageous for both sides and a kind of win-win situation, says the senior justice official.
Concerns and reservations
Not everyone in Estonia and Tartu shares this opinion. Parts of the population and some local politicians in the university city of just under 100,000 inhabitants are worried. Their main concern: an import of dangerous criminals that could endanger Estonia's internal security. Criticism of Justice Minister Liisa-Ly Pakosta from the opposition was loud. In a survey, more respondents were against the agreement with Sweden than in favor of it.
The governments are trying to counter these concerns. Offenders who have been convicted of terrorism or serious organized crime in Sweden and therefore pose a higher security risk should not be brought to Estonia. This can be interpreted to mean that convicted gang members should predominantly continue to serve time in Sweden. Instead, other adult men who have been convicted of murder, sexual or economic crimes, for example, will be considered.
According to Kuuse, Estonia will be able to check the prisoners selected by Sweden itself and reject them in case of doubt. They will not be released in Tartu and will not be released in Estonia, but will be sent back to Sweden at least one month before the end of their sentence. Contact with Estonian inmates is also not planned. This is intended to prevent possible networking of offenders in Estonia and across the Baltic Sea to Sweden.
Comparable prison conditions
Otherwise, the same daily routine will apply for Swedish prisoners as for all other inmates, and they will occupy a cell like all others: ten square meters, bunk bed, bathroom with toilet key and sometimes a shower, table, chair, shelf and coat hooks plus a view through a barred window. There are also communal rooms with a TV, washing machine and fridge. Work is generally compulsory, while sports facilities, an art workshop and a music studio are available for leisure activities. There is also a hospital and a church in the prison, which is sometimes more reminiscent of a closely guarded hostel than a prison.
According to Kuuse, the conditions and standards for the prison system in Estonia and Sweden are comparable - a point that is important to the Swedish government. Nevertheless, challenges such as language remain. Estonian prison staff and Swedish inmates should communicate with each other in English. And the possibilities for visits from home also still need to be regulated in detail.
