Denmark to rent 300 prison rooms in Kosovo to export its foreign criminals

The Law Ministry of Denmark is looking to rent 300 prison rooms in Kosovo to foreign prisoners who have been expelled for their crimes. This agreement has been signed between the government, the Danish People's Party, and the Conservatives at the Prison and Probation Service. Danish prisons are expected to lack up to 1000 prison places by 2025, and this agreement aims to solve these problems. "One of the advantages of doing this is that they do not have to be re-socialised to return to society, because they don't have to be in Denmark afterward. Therefore, we can conveniently move this entire group so that they serve in another place," Socialist Democrat Justice Minister Karen Hækkerup told Danish Radio, reported Sputnik.

However, the plan to rent a jail abroad didn't go well with two government alliance parties, who expressed concern over the prison agreement. Red-Green Alliance legal spokeswoman Rosa Lund said she doesn't believe that setting up 300 prison places abroad is a better way to solve the capacity problem. She added, saying, "this is a very bad chance of keeping an eye on the rights of prisoners and human rights". A member of the Social Liberal Party, Samira Nawa, told TV2 that "Kosovo's prison system has been criticized for corruption, violence between prisoners and poorly trained staff."

Meanwhile, the liberal-conservative Venstre Party expressed concern saying this agreement is "too lax" as Denmark is a country that already has one of the most lenient laws and the lowest penalties, and with this agreement, things are not going to be sufficiently strict. On the other hand, the Danish People's Party legal spokesperson, Peter Skaarup, appreciated the initiative, as he said it would lower the burden on the Danish prison system.

The political parties have also decided to lower punishment for covid-related crimes as it would free up some places in the prisons. The law ministry is also planning to take some initiatives for those who want to improve and lead a better life after getting out of prison. This agreement adds four extra billion kroner to the new initiatives and has been hailed as a historic increase in funding.

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