Sweden launches bid to rent prison places abroad

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) – The Swedish government agreed to go ahead with a proposal to send prisoners abroad due to overcrowding which it expects will continue for years to come, media reports said Friday.

The proposal to rent prison cells in foreign countries, which is part of the Tido Agreement, was initially initiated by the populist Sweden Democrats.

The right-wing government is now appointing an inquiry to review how to proceed with the proposal, according to the Goteborgs-Posten news outlet.

“Short-term convicts may not be subject to this because it leads to practical problems,” while long-term convicts “are a more suitable object to move abroad,” and “you can also imagine those who will be deported after their sentences,” a Sweden Democrats politician and member of parliament, or the Riksdag, Adam Marttinen, was quoted by the Azertac news agency.

The occupancy rate in Swedish prisons is believed to be 114%, according to the Expressen media outlet.

Even though authorities have created temporary places by setting up barracks, installing bunk beds and converting visiting rooms into cells, the queues continue to grow.

For a long time, prisoners sentenced to had to report to an institution within 50 days of a final sentence, however, the limit has been raised to 100 days due to the lack of space, said Expressen.

The overcrowding leads to increased disorder at facilities and poorer conditions for rehabilitation, it said, adding that the long waiting times also mean convicted criminals can commit new serious crimes while waiting to be locked up.

Sweden is not the only Nordic country to consider outsourcing prisoners. Norway signed a deal with the Netherlands in 2015 which led to hundreds of prisoners sentenced in Norway to serve their time in a Dutch prison.

To ease the stress on the prison system. Denmark last year signed a deal worth €15 million (£13.1 million) a year so that 300 prisoners can serve their sentence in Kosovo.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) voiced concerns about the Denmark deal with Kosovo saying it is discriminatory against foreign nationals.

The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims and the European Prison Observatory have raised similar concerns.

Francis Pakes, professor in criminology at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in the faculty of humanities and social sciences at the University of Portsmouth, argues in an article published by the school that Sweden’s proposal to send foreign prisoners to jails in other countries “is just a way of getting rid of unwanted foreign criminals.”