Youth problems could be curbed in Estonia by making help available sooner

Estonian prisons are once again housing juvenile inmates, despite the state's goal of keeping minors out of the prison system. However, this has proven unavoidable due to the severity of crimes committed by some young offenders.
At the start of last year, Estonia recorded zero juvenile inmates for the first time. However, the objective of keeping minors away from the prison system has not been fully achieved. Currently, three juveniles are being held in custody at the youth section of Viru Prison, which accommodates inmates up to the age of 21. These minors are awaiting court verdicts.
In an interview with ERR, Viru Prison social worker Triin Tarendi emphasized that early psychological intervention could help reduce the number of youth turning to crime. "Providing psychological assistance more quickly than we currently do would likely prevent many young people from going down the wrong path," she said.
What does prison mean for young people? Is it something you can use to scare them with, like: "You might end up in prison if you act like this," or is it more of a new experience for them, like, "I'll gain street cred in my circle if I've been to prison"? What is the general attitude toward prison among young people?
When they commit these acts, prison doesn't even cross their minds as a possible outcome. Because they are, as I sometimes jokingly say, like Terminators — they believe they can handle anything and nothing will ever happen to them. They feel like they're adults and don't need any help or guidance.
It doesn't even cross their minds that they could end up in prison?
Absolutely not. The other side of it is when reality hits — when they realize they've gone so far with their actions that they actually end up here — it's really terrifying. The process of adjusting to prison life is especially difficult for minors.
Why is that?
First of all, they realize that this is not an easy place and they'll have to spend a significant part of their life here. They don't know this environment and the people here are strangers to them. It's not actually a safe place for them. And what does a child want most of all? To feel safe above everything else.
At the same time, Laidi Surva, deputy secretary general for criminal policy at the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs, said in an interview with "Aktuaalne kaamera" that some young people actually find their sense of security within prison walls, where they feel that someone cares about them.
Yes, that can definitely be the case. When we talk about what motivates them to change while they're here, it often comes down to the fact that they arrive with these typical beliefs: "I can't manage. I'm not capable of achieving anything positive. The adults around me can't handle me either. I don't know how. I'm not important. I don't matter. I'm a bad person."
That's where it all starts, because those beliefs had to come from somewhere.
Is it possible for prison to change those beliefs?
Absolutely. It starts with very simple things. Just the fact that we have staff here who say, "We actually believe you can do much better, that you are important."
For some of them, this might be the first time they feel understood, heard and valued by adults. That someone takes time for them. And it really does start with small things. I've spent hours sitting on the sidelines of a soccer tournament because the youth department was competing. And it's incredibly important to them that someone is there, cheering them on. It's been so significant that they've won the inter-unit Viru Prison tournament two years in a row.
Similarly, I've spent hours listening to rap and hip-hop because it's important to them.
But this begs the question — why isn't this work done earlier? Why does someone have to end up in prison before they receive this support?
Young people have developed a kind of mistrust toward adults. It's exactly those same beliefs: "I'm not important, I don't know how, I can't do it."
We need a lot more mental health services, especially things like MDFT — Multidimensional Family Therapy. The Social Insurance Board actually offers this MDFT service, the same one we provide here in prison.
What this means is that young people aren't sitting somewhere, waiting for hours outside a psychiatrist's office. They're not waiting for their turn to access a service. You have to go to them, motivate them and tell them, "You matter and that's why we're putting in this effort with you." You need to put in the work with them.
The other side of it is that parents feel extremely helpless and like complete failures when their child ends up in prison. They've often been searching for help everywhere, feeling guilty that they couldn't handle their child. At that point, it's essential for someone to say something positive to them. Because no child comes with a manual and these parents are really struggling and looking for help. All those attempts to seek help — they've done it because they don't know what else to do.
From my experience as an MDFT therapist here in prison, I can say that not a single parent wants anything bad for their child. Not a single parent wants their child to end up in prison. And they take it very hard when their child ends up here.
When someone comes to them, shows care and offers support and help — it boosts their self-confidence. Just as you need to raise the self-confidence of the young person, you also need to raise the confidence of the parents. Because for years and years, they've been hearing how their child isn't coping, how there are always problems. And that only increases the parents' own feeling of, "Well, I can't manage either."
So, places like the Torujõe Youth Home, which was shut down last year due to a lack of funding, should actually be reopened as soon as possible?
There need to be places where we have time to work with young people. I can't praise MDFT enough, both outside prison and here. I see that my work has an impact. In the community, you can achieve some progress in six months. But here, I typically have much more time, sometimes even years with a young person. I have time to go deeper into the young person's mind, to go deeper into the parent's mind and to help rebuild and guide them. Time is actually one of our biggest advantages.
Of course, I'm not doing this work alone — we have a whole team, it's team-based work. But here, the young person is under our constant supervision. We see how they interact with their peers, how they behave with adults. We get to know the young person on a deeper level.
Laidi Surva said that juvenile crime is decreasing, but last year showed an increase in serious crimes committed by young people. What could be the reason for this shift in society?
I would actually say that serious crimes committed by young people have always existed. In my opinion, nothing has fundamentally changed in that regard. I've been working with young people here for quite a long time. However, I would highlight a few key pain points that concern me.
The issue of young people's mental health is very worrying. Even within my circle, when I talk to people in schools, I hear about self-harming and similar things. This problem is growing. Recently, a well-known rapper, AG, said that there isn't a single concert where he doesn't sign an autograph on a scarred arm. That shows that this is a serious problem.
Secondly, more attention should be given to providing truly effective mental health services. The lack of child psychiatrists is a well-known problem. When a young person has to wait three, four or even five months to see a psychiatrist, I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of that parent who doesn't know whether their child will still be alive by the time the appointment comes.
We really need more services like MDFT, where persistent therapists will go to any corner of Estonia if necessary, talk to the young person, refuse to give up on them and believe in them.
And what's very important to me is the role of the community. We could have the best intervention programs in the world here in prison, we could do everything possible. But earlier you asked if prison is scary — let me tell you, another place that is just as scary for young people is returning to freedom after being released. They're afraid of how people on the outside will treat them.
For me, that's where the responsibility lies with everyone out there: how do we welcome that young person back? Do we give them a second chance?
One wrong reaction can cause them to continue cycling in and out of prison. Because they don't feel like they can be a normal person in society. If they have people on the outside who welcome them and give them that second chance, then there's a very high chance that they'll succeed in life and achieve their dreams.
So, we shouldn't let prison label a young person for the rest of their life?
Exactly, so that they don't carry that criminal label with them for the rest of their life. Every single boy I've worked with here in prison is amazing. They're actually very smart. They have a great sense of humor. Each of them has a unique talent, something they're good at.
We need to focus on their strengths. Encourage them to pursue their dreams and tell them: "What you did doesn't define you. You have a new chance." And I believe that they can become great rappers, top chefs, athletes or whatever they want to be in the future.
Based on your answers, it seems that sometimes it might not be the worst thing for a young person to end up in prison. Maybe they gain more from prison for their future than they would from life on the outside.
In some cases, yes, but I still hope that our society will develop and improve to the point where we can solve these issues before someone ends up in prison.
It's really about how we approach young people — do we actually listen to them, do we try to understand them? What matters more to us: how they dress or how they think and feel?
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Editor: Marcus Turovski