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Prisons under pressure
EU member states struggle with prison overcrowding following sharp increases in the bloc’s prison population over recent years.
According to Commission statistics, there were half a million inmates behind bars across the Union in 2023. And this number is on the up.
Insufficient capacity?
The Council of Europe also notes increasing overcrowding in European prisons, something that constitutes a critical challenge for as many as one in three prison administrations across the continent. Furthermore, six EU countries are reporting severe overcrowding: Slovenia, with a staggering 134 inmates per 100 places, takes the top spot, followed by Cyprus, France, Italy, Romania and Belgium. Several of these countries saw a significant hike in their prison populations between 2023 and 2024 alone.
Livia Zancaner at Radio 24 in Milan interviews Susanna Marietti, national coordinator of the justice- and human-rights-focused NGO the Antigone Association, who explains that it is not just adult prisons that are affected in Italy. In fact, nine of the country’s 17 young offenders’ institutions also suffer from overcrowding.
Susanna Marietti, Coordinator of the Antigone Association (in Italian):
“This is the first time in Italian history that juvenile prisons are overcrowded. When we visit, we find cells where there are foam mattresses, often fetid, piled up on the beds, because in the evening those mattresses have to be thrown on the floor for the overcrowded boys to sleep on.”
Zancaner puts this statement in context for us – and gives her take on what may have precipitated the recent increase in inmate numbers.
Livia Zancaner, Journalist (in Italian):
"According to data updated in May 2025 by the Department of Juvenile Justice, there are now 600 juveniles and young adults held in Italy's juvenile detention institutions – a sharp increase on previous years. In July 2023, there were [just] 420. Then in November 2023, the Caivano Decree came into force, which among other things strengthened the penalties for juvenile offenders, lowered the thresholds for pre-trial detention, and extended the use of precautionary measures."
Vincent Spronck is the director of Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels. He describes, for RTBF’s listeners, the abhorrent conditions experienced in many of Belgium’s prisons, where cells are commonly multiple occupancy, with some inmates also forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor.
He underscores that not only are these conditions insufferable for the inmates themselves, but they make for extremely difficult working conditions for prison staff. Indeed, several strikes have taken place in recent weeks in Belgian prisons to call for action against understaffing, difficult working conditions and prison overcrowding.
So, we need more prison places, right? Not necessarily, Spronck cautions.
Vincent Spronck, Prison Director (in French):
“We know that overcrowding cannot be dealt with by creating new prison places on a regular basis. Certainly, that's not all we need to do. We created a lot of places – 2,600 places – in Belgium between 2008 and 2024, yet the overcrowding rate is not decreasing.”
The prison director suggests that we need to acknowledge, and tackle, some of the underlying causes of prison overcrowding if the situation is ever to improve. Poverty, for one.
Vincent Spronck, Prison Director (in French):
“The poor are the first to be incarcerated. The vast majority of people in prison are in precarious situations. They're poor economically, socially, culturally, linguistically, administratively, there are a lot of undocumented migrants, and they're the ones who stay in prison. There are also dangerous people in prison. Some people really deserve to be in prison: drug traffickers, serious violent offenders and murderers. But if we're going to do anything with these people, we need to have enough space and be able to look after them. With this accumulation of poverty eating up space, work and the availability of prison social workers, officers and nurses, the system is paralysed.”
And then, of course, there is the high rate of reoffending.
Vincent Spronck, Prison Director (in French):
“As long as there is no job placement, as long as housing is not more accessible, as long as the criminal record sticks to the bottom and prevents any reintegration, things will continue to go wrong. [...] Release is so complicated to obtain and the prospects following it are so abysmal that most of these guys know that they're likely to come back in – because we're taking them out of society even more by locking them up.”
Outsourcing the problem?
Of course, there are some headline-grabbing ‘quick wins’ being debated, even implemented, by several EU governments. One such solution is currently being rolled out in a noteworthy deal between Sweden and Estonia.
With around half of Estonia's prison places currently vacant, Tallinn has been advertising that it has plenty of room at the inn. And Sweden has jumped at the opportunity of offloading some of its surplus prison population – a service that comes at a price, of course.
Kuku Raadio’s Madis Kimmel tells us more.
Madis Kimmel, Journalist and Program Director at Kuku Raadio (in English):
“The first prisoners could arrive in Estonia from Sweden in the middle of next year. Sweden will be able to send up to 600 prisoners to Estonia at a cost of around €8,500 per prisoner per month.”
The prison transfer agreement signed by the Estonian and Swedish ministers of justice is currently awaiting ratification by the parliaments of both countries. Several other EU member states have also expressed interest in ‘renting’ empty prison places off Estonia. And plans are underway for Denmark to send some 300 inmates to Kosovo in the not-too-distant future.
But is this kind of ‘prisoner export’ not somewhat controversial as an idea?
Madis Kimmel, Journalist and Program Director at Kuku Raadio (in English):
“The discussion on the topic is not very active, but there are still many counterarguments to the plan. For example, it is believed that places are rented too cheaply. In addition, there is a shortage of corresponding workforce.”
There are of course other issues to consider alongside cost and logistics. Critics cite, for example, the human rights implications of moving prisoners to another country, far from their family and friends, thus effectively preventing them from receiving visitors.
Our colleagues at Agora ask the Austrian justice minister, Anna Sporrer, if the transfer of prisoners abroad is a solution Vienna might consider. Sporrer points out that the Austrian constitution does not currently permit such a practice, but highlights one prisoner-transfer practice that is already commonplace across the EU.
Anna Sporrer, Austrian Minister of Justice (in German):
“There is a concept called ‘imprisonment in the home country’. This means that we return foreign citizens who have been sentenced to unconditional imprisonment in our country to their home countries. There is a framework decision for this within the EU. EU countries regularly return citizens to their countries of origin to serve their sentences there. [...] Of course, there are certain limitations because we must ensure that conditions in the countries of origin comply with human rights standards.”
And on the subject of staffing shortages, as mentioned by Madis Kimmel, Austria has certainly come up with an innovative recruitment strategy for prison officers. Sporrer explains.
Anna Sporrer, Austrian Minister of Justice (in German):
“We have developed new models to make young people aware that this is an interesting field of work. We have been able to recruit 60 young top athletes, who are now in training to learn a profession alongside their sporting career – namely that of prison officer. This is one example of how we want to attract more people to the profession.”
Summer safety
In other news, Bulgarian National Radio is shining a spotlight, as the summer draws to an end, on Bulgaria’s patchy safety standards in the field of amusement parks, water sports and attractions.
The issue came to the fore after the death of a child who fell from a parachute being towed by a jet ski owing to an equipment malfunction.
The accident brought to light a regulatory gap as it was unclear which institution was responsible for ensuring the safety of the parasailing equipment. Current control regulations only apply to the vehicle and to the qualifications of its operator, but the safety compliance of the gear is not subject to any institutional monitoring – even though all watercraft and personal protective equipment sold in the EU must bear the European CE mark.
Bulgaria’s deputy PM Grozdan Karadzhov tells BNR that there is now a draft bill in the making that will increase safety checks and reduce risks in amusement activities, as well as clarify criminal liabilities.
Grozdan Karadzhov, Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria (in Bulgarian):
“We are working on introducing additional safety conditions for attractions – conditions that have not been in place up until now. There are European standards, ISO standards. For most attractions, where there are such standards, we will introduce them. In Greece, there is a requirement specifically for parasailing, and there the Maritime Administration takes care of everything, carrying out checks. We will introduce this as part of our new rules.”
Sadly, as is so often the case, it has taken a fatal accident to bring about change.