UK could send criminals to EU – Telegraph

The British Ministry of Justice is evaluating whether some of the country’s criminals could be sent to serve their sentences in Estonian prisons in order to tackle overcrowding in jails at home, The Telegraph reported on Friday.

The Baltic state said late last month that it could rent out prison space and host criminals from other countries to generate revenue for the state budget.

According to the report, which cites British government sources, the controversial solution was “on the table” due to the severity of the situation. The Ministry of Justice said it was investigating “all viable options” to increase capacity because prisons in the UK were “on the point of collapse.” 

The British prison population is expected to rise from around 89,000 to between 93,100 and 106,300 by March 2027. Men’s prisons in England and Wales almost ran out of cells last month, with just 83 spare spaces, The Telegraph wrote.

Estonia’s low crime rate means its prisons are half empty and the government in Tallinn expects that its jail-renting plan could deliver a much needed €30 million ($33 million) per year.

UK Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and her Estonian counterpart, Liisa Pakosta, were expected to discuss prison leasing on the sidelines of a Council of Europe event in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Thursday.

However, British officials are concerned that the idea could turn out to be “very expensive.” They have already ruled out renting space in jails in countries such as the Netherlands, where the state spends nearly £100,000 per prisoner.

In Eastern Europe and Baltic states such as Estonia, between £10,000 and £20,000 is spent per prisoner anjually, the report said. The outlay for housing a prisoner in England and Wales is nearly £50,000, while the cost of building a jail is £600,000 per prisoner, it said.

However, officials believe that any jail-renting negotiations could result in the cost doubling, as other countries would likely demand a premium, The Telegraph wrote, adding that there would be costs for flights and posting some British prison staff abroad.

Another question is whether taxpayers would need to pay for family members to visit inmates in Estonia, the report said.

Meanwhile, some senior former judges in England and Wales have said that “radical solutions” such as the earlier release of killers and rapists on parole should be considered to ease the overcrowding crisis, The Guardian reported on Friday.

Their other proposals reportedly include releasing all prisoners serving minimal sentences and removing from incarceration those who are elderly, dying, or have dementia.