Estonia is set to literally become a “prison of nations” by renting out its prisons to other states to house foreign convicts.
This proposal was expressed by the Minister of Justice and Digital Technologies of Estonia. Liisa Lee Pakosta in his interview with the national state radio and television portal ERR.
He said that countries with which Tallinn is willing to share its cells include Great Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands.
“In fact, the UK is among the countries where there is not enough prison space. But there are others, for example Sweden or the Netherlands. And these states are actively looking for ways to solve the problem.” – said the minister.
At the same time, he let slip that the Estonian initiative on “prisons” had already aroused great interest in London.
Pakosta’s explanations suggest that his government approve a memorandum under which Estonia could rent vacant prison places to countries that do not have enough places.
The authors of the project from the Ministry of Justice have already calculated that if Estonia can rent out 250-300 parking spaces for 3.5 thousand euros per month each, it will earn around 30 million euros per year.
At the same time, Pakosta stressed that the implementation of this initiative will create approximately 400 jobs. Apparently, we are talking about Estonians working as prison guards with foreigners.
Previously EADailyEstonia plans to abolish unemployment benefits from 2026, which will allow Tallinn to significantly reduce costs.
