Estonia considers housing foreign prisoners

The Estonian government says its Tartu prison is almost empty

Estonia’s Justice Minister Liisa Pakosta has told the BBC her country is considering whether to house foreign prisoners in one of its jails.

She said she discussed prisons with UK Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood at an AI summit in Vilnius on Thursday.

But she said there were no “agreements or anything like that” with the Labour government.

The UK is dealing with an overcrowding crisis in prisons, with the population in England and Wales at a record high.

With few spaces left in cells, the government will release about 3,000 prisoners from jails next week, under a temporary scheme.

This will come after a report in the Telegraph said criminals could serve their sentences in Estonian prisons under plans being considered by ministers.

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Pakosta stressed there had been no “political decision” on what to do with Tartu prison, which was almost empty because of the low level of crime in the country.

She said the UK - under the previous Conservative government - was one of several European countries that had expressed interest in sending some prisoners to Estonia.

Ms Pakosta said British officials had visited Tartu prison for an inspection under the previous UK government.

The BBC has been told both former Conservative and current Labour ministers independently came to the view that the scheme would be expensive.

Earlier, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said: "Estonia was the policy of the former government.

"The current government is making no such plans or announcements in relation to Estonian prison places."

Justice Minister Liisa Pakosta said there was no prison agreement with the UK

The minister said she had “a very good meeting” with Ms Mahmood, as they gathered in the Lithuanian capital to sign the first international treaty on artificial intelligence.

“But we were discussing more the general understanding of prison policy in both countries and what we can do to enhance the sense of security in our communities,” Ms Pakosta said.

She added: “So I explained what we’re doing in Estonia and I got a general overview of the situation in Great Britain.

“But I have to underline we did not talk of any agreements or anything like that, because as I said, we don’t have a political decision in Estonia yet.”

Estonia's ruling party chose Kristen Michal to replace former leader Kaja Kallas as the Baltic state's new prime minister in July. They are from the same Reform Party, which won an overwhelming victory in a general election in 2023.

Ms Pakosta said it cost about €3,000 (about £2,500) per month to house an Estonian prisoner, below the EU average.

The average annual overall cost of a prison place in England and Wales is £46,696, according to the Prison Reform Trust.

Estonia's government estimates it could earn as much as €30m (£25m) a year from renting out spare prison capacity, as the country seeks to boost its public finances.

When asked if hosting foreign prisoners could damage Estonia’s international reputation, Ms Pakosta said: “Of course it is not the best topic to promote Estonia.

“But I would assure that coming as a tourist to Estonia, coming to a country with such a low criminality rate, is a very good option.

“It’s so safe we even have so many empty prison places. Half of the prison places are empty in Estonia. So everybody is welcome to come here.”