Half of prison spaces in Estonia's prisons are empty. What alternative uses for prisons has the government discussed?

That is true, that half of the spaces are empty. And it is true that I've submitted a memo to the government cabinet for discussion, to choose the direction of the solution with which to proceed. This discussion hasn't taken place yet.

There's been talk of selling prisons, of preserving them as well as renting out prison spaces to other countries.

Those are three different options that could technically be done.

It's been pointed out that in the case of selling, it would be difficult to use the building for military purposes in a wartime situation.

In my personal opinion, selling the buildings would be the most foolish option. Because first of all, in the case of selling, it would create a situation where it's nearly impossible in real life to sell special purpose real estate.

We've seen this in Central Tallinn, with the difficulties in selling the old Tallinn prison property, which hasn't managed to be sold in all these years. The old Tallinn prison consists of a lighter type of brick buildings, which are very easy to demolish. Right now we have three new prisons built in Estonia, powerful and mighty ones, with considerably more concrete and whose demolition costs would be absolutely absurd. In the case of a sale, though, they would need to be demolished, because such specialized properties simply can't be repurposed for other use.

So the sale would inevitably result in a significant loss for the Estonian people. In the sense that we would never be able to recoup the money invested in them. Nevermind the fact that the state would likely have to build a new one soon. And we would have nowhere to put prisoners of war, for example, should the need arise.

Another significant issue is the fact that serious crime is on the rise in Europe. There are only four countries in the EU where crime is increasing slowly – but it's still growing. Fortunately, Estonia is one of them right now. We're moreso in a situation where violent crime is going up rapidly across Europe, and it's likely that five, seven years from now, Estonia itself might unfortunately need more prison spaces.

Selling would be a very foolish idea. It would be foolish financially, and it would be foolish in substance too. On top of that, we'd also lose jobs too.

Estonian Prison Service director Rait Kuuse wrote that one alternative to selling would be to rent out prison space. He noted that there is active interest in prison space – both the U.K. and Sweden would like to house their prisoners in Estonia.

There are actually more countries, and the renting out of prison spaces already occurs in Europe. It's quite common that the need for them in various countries fluctuates over time, and they employ other countries' help.

We currently have war criminals from other countries in Tartu Prison, meaning we're already using a similar system. We have three very modern prisons. Prison breaks of any kind from them are out of the question; no one has ever escaped from them.

By renting out prison space, we'd achieve a situation where we'd provide significantly more jobs – jobs with completely reasonable salaries. We could resolve several budget deficit-related issues. If we rented [them] out, then we'd rent them out profitably, so that the people of Estonia would benefit.

Thirdly, which is also very important, we would have staff already in place – those already working in the prison. They have thoroughly vetted backgrounds, excellent security skills and are superb people. They're warmed up, figuratively speaking, if needed to ensure security somewhere, and [undergo] continuous training. In that sense, it would actually only serve to improve local people's security. In that case, we would have a well-trained reserve at our disposal in case of potential dangerous situations.

And what's more, it may also be necessary that, in the event of an escalation or some sort of broader threat, it could be used as a prison for prisoners of war. Taking prisoners of war could mean we have someone to exchange for people of Estonia.

How much prison space is currently being rented in Estonia?

Right now, in Estonia, we have three war criminals in Tartu Prison; one more is coming.

How profitable is bringing in foreign prisoners for the state?

If we're talking about renting, in terms of revenue we'd be looking at starting from around €30 million a year – that's a very rough ballpark figure.

Renting out prison spaces would bring in the Estonian state around €30 million a year?

Starting from that [amount]. The specifics would be determined during contract negotiations.

Closing and selling – these are worse options?

Closing means preserving. Preservation costs would likely be somewhere over €10 million annually, which Estonian taxpayers would have to pay for nothing.

Since we're talking about a large concrete structure, that means the building would need to be heated, maintained, ventilated, etc. This would, and I'll say this again, cost taxpayers at least €10 million a year, which they'd have to pay for nothing if the political decision is made not to go the way of renting.

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