Sweden’s surplus of prison spaces has prompted Norway’s justice minister to ask about possibility of renting places in Swedish prisons for Norwegian prisoners.
“I think this is a win-win situation for both us and the Swedes,” Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK. “They have spots available, and we have capacity problems.”
On Monday Anundsen announced that he had sent a proposal to his Swedish counterpart Beatrice Ask, in hopes of finding a way to send inmates from Norway to Swedish prisons as early as next year.
The request comes as Norway struggles with a shortage of cells that police complain is forcing them to release criminals back onto the streets.
“We cannot live with the situation we have in this country now,” he told state broadcaster NRK. “We have long prison queues, and that is why we have contacted the Swedes to see if it is possible to renting prison places there.”
Earlier this year, Sweden closed down four prisons and a remand centre following a dramatic drop in the number of people being given jail sentences….
….The number of inmates in Sweden has been falling steadily in recent years, dropping by around one percent a year since 2004, before sinking by six percent between 2011 and 2012, mainly due to lower sentences for drugs offences and minor theft.
Read the Whole story: http://www.thelocal.se/20131210/norway-to-sweden-can-we-rent-space-in-your-prisons
Source: The Local/TT/dl