Denmark will send prisoners to rented prisons in Kosovo | News from Germany about Europe | Dw

Denmark is leasing 300 places for prisoners from Kosovo as part of the country’s penitentiary reform. This was reported on Wednesday, December 15, on the website of the Danish Ministry of Justice.

Only foreigners will be sent to Kosovo, who must be deported from Denmark by a court decision after the expiry of their sentence. “By 2025, the capacity of prisons is expected to be reduced by 1,000 places, and with the help of the agreement we have reached, we intend to offset this reduction. Among other things, we have decided to rent prison places in Kosovo and increase the number of places in Danish prisons in the short and long term,” – said the Minister of Justice Nick Hackerup.

Copenhagen allocates over 530 million euros for prison reform

In total, 4 billion Danish crowns (more than 530 million euros) have been allocated for the prison reform program. Another goal is to improve the working conditions for the staff of the penitentiary system.

At the moment, about 4,000 prisoners are serving sentences in prisons of 5.8 million Denmark. The number of such institutions is declining, and the number of prisoners is growing – by 19 percent since 2015. Most of them are serving sentences of up to five years in so-called open prisons. In them, prisoners are allowed to wear their own clothes and cook their own food. Most of these facilities do not have a traditional prison fence, and prisoners may request the opportunity to temporarily leave the prison.

See also:

• What German prisons look like

  179 institutions

  In Germany, according to the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, there are 179 penitentiary institutions. The word “prison” is used only in everyday life. The official name is “Penitentiary Institution”, in German – Justizvollzugsanstalt (JVA).

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  What German prisons look like

  Single room

  This is what a cell in Waldheim prison looks like. In 2012, a new building was built in this oldest prison in Germany. The construction cost 7.5 million euros. In addition to cameras, there is a large “social area” with a sports hall, rooms for games, etc. A television and a computer are allowed if the convict can purchase them with his own money. But Internet access is available only in exceptional cases.

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  What German prisons look like

  What are the guards armed with?

  The guards on the watchtowers (the picture shows the Staubing prison for those convicted of especially dangerous crimes), like those who work inside the prison, do not carry firearms. It can be distributed only in urgent cases (a riot with a threat to human life, for example). On the territory of the prison, the guards are armed with truncheons, gas cans, and, in exceptional cases, electric shockers.

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  What German prisons look like

  Secret salad

  This is what a typical Hanover prisoner dinner looks like: flounder fillets fried in batter with a traditional German potato salad. The salad is made by the prisoner chefs, and the recipe is kept secret. A plastic bowl is necessary to keep the dish cool. If the convicts have money, they can buy something else for themselves. But delicacies from a nearby restaurant are not carried.

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  What German prisons look like

  How many convicts are in Germany?

  This building looks like an ordinary high-rise building. However, this is a prison in Berlin’s Tegel district. In 179 “penal institutions” in Germany – about 75 thousand “seats”. But now they contain about 64 thousand convicts. About six percent of them are women. There are special prisons for those convicted under the age of 21 and one prison (in Singen) for the elderly.

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  What German prisons look like

  Punishment for teenagers

  This is a juvenile prison in Adelsheim. “Minors”, that is, receiving milder punishments even for especially grave crimes (for example, murder), are considered in Germany to be teenagers aged 14-17 years. In some cases, these milder laws apply to 18-20 year olds. Children under 14 years of age cannot be held criminally liable in Germany.

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  What German prisons look like

  Fitness for seniors

  This is already a special prison for the elderly – in Singen, near the city of Konstanz. Men and women aged 62 and over are serving their sentences here. Conditions in this prison are also softer. Most of the “short-term” only spend the night here, and during the day they leave the walls of the prison. It has, for example, a fitness center.

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  What German prisons look like

  Work at will

  Locksmith’s workshop of the penitentiary in Willich (North Rhine-Westphalia). It is not necessary to work as prisoners in Germany, but many do it with pleasure: firstly, they need to take time with something, and secondly, they can earn money. True, wages are usually low, since the overwhelming majority of prisoners are employed in unskilled jobs.

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  What German prisons look like

  A sold-out concert

  Concert of the British hard rock band Uriah Heep and its lead singer Bernie Shaw in the Rottenburg prison. About 500 prisoners gathered at the concert – almost everyone who was sitting here at that time.

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  What German prisons look like

  Luxury prison

  The Weiterstadt remand prison, built in 1997, is considered exemplary in Germany. There is a stadium, a swimming pool, a prison church … About 800 people are awaiting trial in this prison for their crimes. Evil tongues claim that the time spent here encourages them to new violations of the law.

  Author: Efim Shuman

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