The Ministry of Justice is planning to transfer up to 600 inmates from Sweden to Tartu Prison, as many prison spaces in Estonia currently stand empty. However, Prosecutor General Astrid Asi, in her feedback on the draft agreement, noted that the document does not address the impact this transfer would have on prosecutorial and pretrial investigation resources and activities.

Asi explained that, just like prisoners already in Estonia, the Swedish inmates brought here are also likely to commit crimes while in prison.

"No screening process can completely rule this out. Conflicts with guards arise, disputes break out between inmates, attempts are made to smuggle in banned substances and so on," Asi said. "These cases would have to be investigated by Estonian authorities. That requires both investigative and prosecutorial resources for leading pretrial investigations and, if necessary, representing the prosecution in court. It's unrealistic to expect these cases to be negligible in number when we're talking about nearly 600 inmates."

She pointed to a provision in the draft agreement that outlines cooperation between Estonian and Swedish authorities and noted that Estonia would be the primary jurisdiction in these cases, as the crimes would take place on Estonian territory. Requiring separate agreements for each case would only add to the administrative and procedural burden, especially since there are no clear criteria in place.

"At present, the South District Prosecutor's Office cannot accommodate an increase in prison-related criminal cases, which means these investigations would have to come at the expense of public safety in South Estonia. In practice, this means some local crimes would go uninvestigated. Existing prosecutorial staff cannot handle the added workload from these additional cases," Asi stressed.

She also raised concerns about language barriers, noting that many Swedish inmates may not speak English. This would incur translation costs, especially for languages like Swedish, Arabic or others for which Estonia has very few qualified interpreters.

"Translation is needed for investigative procedures, all evidence later on and possibly even for legal counsel. All of these costs would have to be borne by the Estonian state," Asi said.

However, the draft agreement does not specify who would cover translation expenses. The Prosecutor's Office also highlighted that Swedish authorities reportedly require interpretation in at least 120 different languages in their legal processes — a capacity Estonia may not have or may only be able to provide at significant cost.

As a result, Asi recommended that the agreement explicitly state that Sweden would cover translation costs and take responsibility for providing interpreters.

She also flagged another issue: sending foreign prisoners to Estonia would reduce the use of Estonian in Tartu Prison operations, making English the primary working language. Asi noted that the agreement designates English as the working language for the entire prison's administration, even though administrative matters do not necessarily pertain to Swedish inmates.

Asi stated that the Prosecutor's Office supports the draft agreement only if its concerns are addressed.

The agreement to transfer Swedish inmates to Estonia is scheduled to be signed in Stockholm on June 18 and would be valid for five years. Unless either party objects, it would automatically be extended for an additional three years upon expiration.

Estonia would receive a fixed annual payment of €30.6 million from Sweden for access to 300 prison cells, regardless of the actual number of inmates transferred.

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