Prisons in Estonia

Overview of the prisons in Estonia

The prisons in Estonia are operated by the Estonian Department of Prisons, which currently maintains three prisons around the country: Tallinn Prison, Tartu Prison and Viru Prison.[1]

## History

[edit]

Prisons were used more frequently under the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, and people were held for longer periods of times. This use did not immediately fall after Estonia's independence, as it took time to reform policing and the criminal code, and crime rates grew in the meantime. Prisons were managed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs until August 1993, when they were transferred to the Ministry of Justice. A program began in 1996 to replace old Soviet prison buildings with new ones. Probation and parole were established in 1997 with the Probation Act. Tartu prison opened in 2002.[2]

## Population

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In March 2011, there were 3,405 persons incarcerated in Estonia, and the number of prisoners per 100,000 residents were 254, which is the third highest rate in the EU. These figures include pre-trial detainees and remand prisoners.[3][4] It is, however, a much lower rate than in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the Estonian prison population reached almost 5,000 persons.[3]

Estonian prisoners and prison population per 100,000 inhabitants[5] Year  | Prisoners  | Prison population
per 100,000 inhabitants

|
|

1992  | 4778  | 312
1993  | 4514  | 302
1994  | 4518  | 309
1995  | 4401  | 306
1996  | 4228  | 301
1997  | 4752  | 341
1998  | 4342  | 315
1999  | 4679  | 341
2000  | 4803  | 351
2001  | 4775  | 350
2002  | 4352  | 321
2003  | 4575  | 339
2004  | 4565  | 339
2005  | 4410  | 328
2006  | 4310  | 321
2007  | 3466  | 258
2008  | 3656  | 273
2009  | 3555  | 265
2010[6] | 3393  | 254
2011  | 3400  | 255
2012  | 3286  | 248

## References

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1. ^ Intitutions
2. ^ Miljan, Toivo (2015). "Prisons". Historical Dictionary of Estonia (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 364–365\. ISBN 978-0-8108-7513-5.
3. ^ a b International Centre for Prison Studies: Estonia Archived 2012-03-22 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2011-07-29
4. ^ International Centre for Prison Studies: Europe - Prison Population Rates per 100,000 Retrieved 2011-07-29
5. ^ [1] (from the estonian prisons official webpage).
6. ^ Prison_population 2002-2012 ec.europa.eu

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