Denmark indicated on Wednesday April 27 that it had signed an agreement with Kosovo to send 300 detainees there for 15 million euros a year, a transaction the beginnings of which had been announced in December.
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“We have now signed a ground-breaking agreement which will ensure better capacity in our overcrowded prisons and relieve pressure on our prison officers“, said in a press release the Danish Minister of Justice, Nick Haekkerup. The first detainees, foreigners sentenced to deportation after having served their sentence, should be incarcerated from the beginning of 2023 in Gjilan prison, 50 km from Pristina.
“Your future is not in Denmark”
“With this agreement, Denmark also sends a clear signal to foreigners from third countries who have been sentenced to deportation: your future is not in Denmark, and therefore you should not serve your sentence there.“said Nick Haekkerup. In 2020, some 350 inmates were to be deported at the end of their sentence in Danish prisons.
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Since 2015, the prison population has jumped 19% in Denmark to reach more than 4,000 people at the start of 2021, which represents an occupancy rate exceeding 100%, according to national statistics. During the same period, the number of guards fell by 18% in the Scandinavian kingdom of 5.8 million inhabitants, known for its open prisons reserved for prisoners serving sentences of less than five years. This is not the first time that Denmark intends to outsource the management of foreigners outside the EU borders. In June, it adopted a law allowing the relocation of centers for asylum seekers.