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Sweden to rent Estonian jail cells as it transforms criminal justice policies
The Guardian
|July 14, 2025
Sweden is moving away from criminal rehabilitation in favour of US-style mass incarceration, experts have said, as the country prepares to rent places in Estonian jails to help house its rapidly expanding prison population.
The move is one of a slew of policies aimed at transforming the Swedish criminal justice system as the centre-right government struggles to tackle gang violence and prisons warn of overcrowding.
Last week the justice department said it had told Kriminalvården (the Swedish prison and probation service) to "make the necessary preparations".
Under an agreement signed by Stockholm and Tallinn in June, up to 600 prison places in the Baltic country are expected to be made available.
According to a recent Kriminalvården report, Sweden's prison population could - in the most extreme scenario - grow from 7,800 this year to 41,000 in 2034 as a result of more punitive policies driven by the far right.
This story is from the July 14, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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