Up to 600 Swedish prisoners will serve their sentences in Estonia.
On Tuesday, Sweden sent four prisoners to Tartu Prison in Estonia, where they will serve their sentences under a prison-leasing agreement signed between the two countries.
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“All prisoners arriving in Estonia have undergone thorough background checks by both countries before being sent. Estonia gives separate consent for the reception of each prisoner,” the Estonian Prison Service said.
In June, the Swedish and Estonian parliaments ratified a prison-leasing agreement under which up to 600 Swedish prisoners will serve their sentences in Estonia.
The arrival of the Swedish prisoners will take place in stages, with up to 100 prisoners arriving at Tartu Prison before the end of September and another 100 by the end of the year.
People linked to organized crime, terrorists, radicalized prisoners, women, minors or other prisoners specifically excluded in the cooperation document will not be transferred to Estonia.
In general, the prisoners arriving in Estonia will be adult men serving long sentences for crimes against people or offenses related to drug trafficking.
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Estonia will start housing Swedish prisoners convicted of crimes of passion and economic crime in Tartu prison, Estonian media ERR announced.
Sweden will pay 8,500 euros per month for each prisoner – which is more… pic.twitter.com/5VWAkrZ2BI
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geopolitics in the picture (@geogeolite) June 10, 2025
In the first list of names submitted by Sweden, Estonia rejected more than half of the prisoners in response to concerns the agreement has generated among the local population.
The prison emphasized that no Swedish prisoner will be released on Estonian territory because they will be returned to Sweden once they have completed their sentence.
Estonia agreed to lease prison spaces to Sweden to create local employment opportunities and make use of the available capacity at the prison located near the university city of Tartu.
To implement the agreement, the Prison Service will hire more than 250 new employees over the course of a year. Workers who will attend to the prisoners sent by Sweden will receive training in English or translation tools so they can communicate with the foreign inmates.
All costs related to the prisoners will be covered by the Swedish government, which will pay Estonia at least 30.6 million euros per year for the availability of 300 prison spaces.
Starting with the 301st prisoner, an additional 8,500 euros per month will be paid for each inmate. When the number of prisoners reaches 600, the annual payment will rise to 61.2 million euros. The amount will be updated annually using an indexation rate of 3.5%.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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