Just days after it was revealed that Denmark is to send foreign criminals and rejected asylum-seekers to live on the remote island of Lindholm, it has now surfaced that the Danes are also weighing up options further abroad.
Several independent sources have informed national broadcaster DR that Denmark is currently in negotiations with Lithuania regarding the construction of a new prison that could house all of its foreign criminals who have been expelled as part of their sentences.
The move also corresponds with the recently-signed 2019 Budget Agreement, which states that: “As soon as possible, and by the end of 2019 at the latest, an agreement must be reached with a partner country concerning the establishment of Danish prison space abroad, so expelled criminals can serve their sentences there instead of burdening the Danish prison system and society.”
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DF wet dream
The persisting negotiations are locked in on what exactly Denmark must give up in return for dispatching the foreign criminals to the Baltic country. Lithuania has reportedly expressed “considerable interest” in the plan.
The prison will be located outside of the capital of Vilnius, and aside from Denmark several other European countries are also keen on taking part in the project. The prison won’t have to measure up to Danish standards either.
“I’m sure they [the criminals] would rather serve in a Danish prison, but there needs to be room for many others,” Preben Bang Henriksen, the spokesperson for Venstre party on judicial issues, told DR Nyheder.
“We don’t need to furnish the prison on a par with prisons in Denmark, but it is clear that we will finance it one way or another for it to live up to international treaties. That’s something the prison authority will monitor.”
Righ-wing party Dansk Folkeparti (DF) has long campaigned for Denmark to purchase or lease a prison in eastern Europe, and Parliament visited prisons in Lithuania and Romania last year.
