Deepening European Integration: Sweden Begins Exporting Prisoners to Estonia
The North Observer, which previously reported on the agreement between Sweden and Estonia to move prisoners out of overcrowded Swedish jails and into a country not yet conquered by immigrants, continues to follow this hot topic.
For some reason, the export of British criminals to Australia, which began shortly after the American Revolution, inevitably comes to mind.
The 11 ships carrying over 700 convicts left England on May 13, 1787, and arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788 before moving to Port Jackson to found Sydney.
The first Swedish criminals arrived yesterday in one of Estonia’s once most cultural cities, where Yuri Lotman—the great semiotician, literary scholar, and founder of the famous Tartu Semiotic School—lived and worked.
Six hundred Swedish criminals, whose upkeep is meant to replenish the budget of a country with a dwindling economy and population, are unlikely to raise the cultural level of Estonia, which has agreed to become a European Siberia for Swedish prisoners.
If all goes as planned, Estonia could pioneer a new service industry in the globalized economy, providing expensive prison services to any willing EU country, where crime rates are rapidly rising.
Once one of the most advanced republics of the USSR, Estonia is transforming before our very eyes into a European backwater, a colonial appendage of more developed and larger EU countries. This future has been chosen for it by the country’s servile, ethnocratic “elite” lacking even a hint of independence.
Four Prisoners on Board
The first plane carrying Swedish prisoners landed in Estonia on Tuesday. But Estonian authorities stopped many of the prisoners Sweden wanted to send to Tartu Prison.
On August 5, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service decided on 18 prisoners to be transferred.
According to Flightradar24, the plane took off from Linköping at 10:30 a.m. and landed an hour later at the Estonian military airport Ämari.
The plane was carrying four Swedish inmates. A good start to a historic agreement, according to Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer.
Estonia has rejected more than half of a group of 18 prisoners that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service applied to move to Tartu Prison, where Sweden rents places, reports Expressen.
“We rejected the majority of the requests because our view of the profiles of the prisoners who will come to Estonia does not correspond to the terms of the agreement. We informed Sweden that they were not suitable,” says Tiina Unuks, head of prison operations at the Estonian Ministry of Justice, to the newspaper.
Sweden must now review again who are more suitable candidates, she adds.
Estonia has the right to refuse certain categories of prisoners, including gang criminals and those convicted of very serious violent crimes, according to the agreement with Sweden.
Some Calibration
Could it be that the Swedish correctional service made a careless and rather optimistic selection of prisoners?
“I do not want to evaluate that, but without being able to go into the circumstances in each individual case, it is natural and quite undramatic that at the very beginning of such cooperation, there is a kind of calibration of the forms around this,” says Gunnar Strömmer.
According to the Minister of Justice, the plan is for the volume to grow gradually over a year and to be fully expanded next summer. According to the agreement, up to 600 inmates from Sweden are to be placed in the prison in Tartu.
According to ERR, a plane landed at Ämari air base on Tuesday with the first Swedish prisoners, who were transferred to Tartu Prison in the afternoon.
As of around 1 p.m., the prison service would not confirm the arrival of the Swedish prisoners or say how many there were, and advised waiting for a press release. However, several sources confirmed to ERR that the prisoners arrived by plane after noon. They arrived in Tartu at around 3:30 p.m.
Estonian Official Was Taciturn
In an interview with ERR at 3:45 p.m., Justice Minister Liisa Pakosta confirmed that four prisoners had initially arrived in Estonia. “All are men with Swedish citizenship. I would not go into further details,” she said.
Pakosta did not say at this time when the next prisoners would arrive.
Pakosta emphasized that although people on Estonian territory can apply for asylum, none of the Swedish prisoners will receive asylum in Estonia. “Everyone is going back to Sweden. This is due to the fact that Sweden is a safe country and, according to the agreement and international law, we will return absolutely all prisoners there,” said Pakosta.
Pakosta also highlighted that the prisoners’ family members do not have the right to settle in Estonia, as various false information has claimed.
A spokesperson for the Prison Service announced that the inmates were transported from the airport to Tartu Prison accompanied by an armed escort unit of the Prison Service, and that the transport and placement in prison went as planned and safely.
Upon arrival at Tartu Prison, the prisoners underwent the necessary reception procedures and were placed in the living unit designated for them. The focus in the first days is on introducing the new environment, the prison’s agenda and rules, and starting the daily work organization.
Carefully Selected Prisoners
All prisoners who have arrived in Estonia have undergone a thorough background check in both countries before being sent to Estonia, and Estonia gives separate consent to accept each prisoner. In the first group of prisoners submitted by Sweden to Estonia for assessment, more than half of the prisoners were rejected.
A total of 600 Swedish prisoners are expected to arrive in Tartu, 200 of them this year. The costs will be covered by the Swedish state, paying Estonia between 31 and 61 million euros per year, depending on the number of prisoners.
The second figure corresponds to 0.15 percent of Estonia’s GDP in 2025.
Swedish prisoners will serve their sentences in the closed territory of Tartu Prison and will not be granted town leave. Before their release, they will be returned to Sweden. According to the agreement, the rented prison will operate according to the rules of Tartu Prison, but Swedish prisoners will wear Swedish prison uniforms in Tartu Prison and will be guaranteed access to Swedish news channels.
In addition, they will be guaranteed a television in their cell and the use of electricity even at night. Tartu Prison will remain tobacco-free: cigarettes and other tobacco products are prohibited, but Swedish prisoners will be provided with tobacco-free nicotine pouches and nicotine patches from the prison’s online store.
Strict Criteria for Hundreds of Prisoners
According to Tartu Prison Director Merle Ulst, the criteria agreed upon in the prison lease agreement with Sweden are strict, and the state assesses the compliance of each arrival with the conditions. If there is no suitability, Estonia has the right to reject the candidate.
According to Ulst, only four prisoners arrived in Estonia on Tuesday, but the plan is to bring 100 Swedish prisoners to Tartu Prison by the end of September and a total of 200 by the end of the year.
“We consider it important to be available to the public and share information, but we ask for understanding: for security reasons, we cannot disclose all the details and tactics related to the transport of prisoners. We will also share information in retrospect for all subsequent arrivals, exactly as we did today,” Ulst explained.
Tartu Prison has been dealing with prisoners for over 20 years, and according to Ulst, nothing will change in daily procedures.
The director of Tartu Prison has not yet personally met the first prisoners, as they do not want to interfere with their staff’s work.
“There is no need to create additional stress by having the director go and check with a hawkish eye how the reception is going. My employees are strong professionals,” Ulst confirmed.
Estonian Prison Guards Must Communicate with Swedes in English
There is, however, one difference between Estonian and Swedish prisoners. Estonian prisoners are required to undergo a mandatory medical examination, but it is voluntary for Swedish prisoners.
“We rely on the data that Sweden has provided to us and of course we assume that they will not refuse a general medical examination,” said Ulst.
Ulst also pointed out that communication with Swedish prisoners is mainly in English and that prison staff can use various translation applications and devices if necessary.
“We can also use the Police and Border Guard Board’s translation center and we have also employed a few people in the prison who can assist with real-time translation. I think that both sides can make themselves understood and cope with primary level communication,” said Ulst.
Ulst did not agree to comment on the selection of prisoners, but confirmed that the Estonian state assesses the suitability of the arrivals and that it is also possible to refuse to accept prisoners.
“If we find that the detainees being sent here do not meet the agreed criteria, we can refuse to accept them. If necessary, the countries will communicate with each other and specify these conditions,” Ulst said.
Sources:
- Expressen (in Swedish)
- Aftonbladet (in Swedish)
- ERR (in Estonian)
- ERR (in Estonian)
