Prisoners could serve sentence in Estonia as Ministry of Justice considers "all options" for overcrowding crisis
6 September 2024, 09:08 | Updated: 6 September 2024, 09:45
Watch Again: Nick Ferrari is joined by Border Security & Asylum Minister Dame Angela Eagle | 06/09/24
Ministers are considering plans to send criminals to serve their sentences in Estonian prisons in an effort to combat the overcrowding crisis in British jails.
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Sending offenders to the Baltic state is under consideration as one of many options to address the capacity problem faced by British prisons- where just over 1,000 spaces are thought to be left in England and Wales.
This comes after Justice Secretary Shabna Mahmood pledged to tackle the over-crowding crisis by unlocking planning processes, which she said would stop the "powder keg waiting to explode" behind bars.
In July, she announced plans to cut the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50% to 40%.
The temporary move - which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences - is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.
Ben Kentish on governmental 'mess' over prisons
It's understood that sending prisoners to Estonia is just one of many options being considered by the government to find places for offenders.
The Ministry of Justice said they will investigate "all viable options" to fix the "justice system in crisis" the party "inhereited" from the previous government.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "The new Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse.
“We will continue to investigate all viable options to increase the number of places in the prisons estate so we can keep locking up dangerous criminals and protect the public.”
Estonia's low crime rate means that 50% of prison space in the country is empty. Renting prison space from the Baltic country was considered by the previous government under former Justice Minister Alex Chalk but was dismissed as potentially too expensive.
Labour fiercely opposed sending prisoners to Estonia during the previous government and said it was an example of Tory mismanagement.
Asked why Labour is considering the scheme after the Justice Secretary previously called it a 'symbol of failure' of the Conservative government, Dame Angela Eagle told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that "temporary measures" are needed to deal with the "mess" they have inherited.
The Minister for Border Security and Asylum said: "What we’ve inherited from the government, they closed loads of prison places and failed to build any new prison, is a system on verge of collapse – so we’ve got to find temporary ways of dealing with that.
"We have to do some emergency things to deal with the mess we’ve inherited before we get on to building prison places to replace the ones that have closed.
"But that is still true -we’ve been in power for two months – you can’t right every wrong in eight weeks. We need more prison places.
"We have a system that is full and collapsing –we have virtually no prison places to put people who are going through our courts – some of whom are serious offenders – in jail.
"What Shabana said was true then and it’s true now. The answer is to build more prison places, and I know the Ministry of Justice will make a statement on that later in the year."
Ms Mahmood is thought to have discussed prison leasing with her Estonian counterpart Liisa Pastoka while attending a Council of Europe event in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Thursday.
Ms Pakosta told The Telegraph: “The UK and Estonia have a history of successful international cooperation, and such a partnership would create further opportunities to benefit and learn from each other.”
Watch Again: Nick Ferrari is joined by Former Justice Secretary Alex Chalk | 05/09/24
Alex Chalk accused ministers of not being "frank with the British people" about what releasing people early from prison would mean.
From next week, prisoners are expected to be released after serving just forty per cent of their sentences - in a bid to free up spaces.
The Ministry of Justice thinks the move will free up around 2,500 places next week, with another 2,500 in October.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: "The new Government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons on the point of collapse.
It has been forced to introduce an early release programme to stop a crisis that would have overwhelmed the criminal justice system, meaning we would no longer be able to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public.
"This early release programme excludes sentences for serious violent and a range of domestic-abuse related offences from these changes.
"No one is eligible for the Home Detention Curfew Scheme unless they have been risk-assessed and have six months or less left before their conditional release date."
