British prisoners may be relocated to Estonian jails following a record number of inmates in England and Wales, which has reached 88,350.
Estonia’s Minister of Justice, Liisa Pakosta, announced that the country has available cells to lease to its NATO allies. This development comes as judges are advised against incarcerating individuals for minor offenses and as some prisoners are scheduled for early release to alleviate the overcrowding in British prisons.
Ms. Pakosta indicated that the scheme could potentially bring £25 million to Estonia and suggested that discussions are already underway between Britain and Sweden regarding the transfer of prisoners to the Baltic nation.
She stated, “Half of the spaces are empty. I have submitted a memo to the government cabinet for discussion to determine the direction of the solution we will pursue.”
As of August 30, the total number of prisoners in England and Wales stands at 88,350, the highest level since 2011. This marks an increase of 116 from the previous week’s total of 88,234 and nearly 1,000 more than four weeks ago, when there were 87,362 inmates.
This surge follows recent far-right riots across the UK, which resulted in numerous arrests and ongoing convictions of violent protesters. In response, ministers activated ‘Operation Early Dawn’ last week, implementing emergency measures to prevent further prison overcrowding as additional rioters face sentencing.
The long-standing ‘one in, one out’ policy has been enacted in Northern England to address the situation, allowing defendants to remain in police cells and postponing their appearance in magistrates’ courts until prison space becomes available.
Since taking office, the Labour government has reduced the proportion of a sentence that inmates must serve in custody from 50% to 40%.
