Finland’s ‘overcrowded’ prison system

Excerpts from a report that Finland is considering sending prisoners abroad to ease overcrowding:

Justice Minister Leena Meri said the option requires further examination because transferring prisoners abroad raises constitutional questions over Finland’s responsibility for enforcing sentences imposed by its courts.

“I consider it important that, because of overcrowding in our prisons, we examine what such a model would require in practice from the perspective of our legislation,” Meri said at a press conference in Helsinki.

Finland has about 3,900 prisoners, according to figures from the Prison and Probation Service cited by the ministry. Around 950 are foreign nationals.

The number of foreign prisoners has risen by 76 per cent over the past decade. Their increase accounted for about four-fifths of the overall rise in Finland’s prison population during the same period.