Estonia rejects most Swedish prisoners for Tartu facility

Estonia has rejected a significant portion of the prisoners Sweden intended to transfer to the Tartu prison, a facility where Sweden rents capacity. Of the 18 inmates initially proposed by Sweden's Prison and Probation Service, Estonian authorities denied entry to more than half.

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We rejected the majority of the requests because our understanding of the profiles of the prisoners to come to Estonia does not align with the conditions of the agreement. We informed Sweden that they were not suitable.

Tiina Unuks, head of prison operations at the Estonian Ministry of Justice, told Expressen that the majority of requests were rejected because "our understanding of the profiles of the prisoners to come to Estonia does not align with the conditions of the agreement." She added, "We informed Sweden that they were not suitable." This means Sweden must now re-evaluate its selection process to identify more suitable candidates for transfer.

The first flight carrying four Swedish inmates landed in Estonia on Tuesday, an event Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer described as a "good start to a historic agreement." He acknowledged that Estonia has the right to refuse certain categories of prisoners, including those convicted of serious violent crimes or gang-related offenses, as stipulated in the agreement. "Cooperation with the Prison and Probation Service and the Estonian counterpart is underway. At the same time, there is a process regarding who will be sent over where Estonia is involved, and they also have the opportunity to say no in individual cases," Strömmer told TT.

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Cooperation with the Prison and Probation Service and the Estonian counterpart is underway. At the same time, there is a process regarding who will be sent over where Estonia is involved, and they also have the opportunity to say no in individual cases.

When questioned about whether Sweden's prison service had made a careless or overly optimistic selection, Strömmer declined to comment on individual cases. However, he stated that it is "natural and quite undramatic" for a "calibration of the forms surrounding this" to occur at the very beginning of such cooperation. The plan is for the volume of transferred inmates to gradually increase over the next year, with the facility expected to be fully operational by next summer. The agreement allows for up to 600 inmates from Sweden to be housed in the Tartu prison.

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It is natural and quite undramatic that a calibration of the forms surrounding this occurs at the very beginning of such cooperation.