Junior justice minister Ingrid Coenradie is exploring the option of sending some Dutch prisoners to serve their sentences in Estonia, as staff shortages in the Netherlands have left the country without enough space to house convicts.

The move wouldn’t start until 2026 and, according to RTL, would be limited to 500 prisioners. Some 2,000 people in the Netherlands are currently out of jail, even though they should be behind bars, because there is nowhere for them to go.

Coenradie, who represents the far-right PVV in the new cabinet, hasn’t yet visited Estonia herself but is hoping to arrange a trip in the near future.

Accommodation in Estonia must meet Dutch legal standards for prisoners. That includes a day programme, allowing access from independent monitors and developing plans to reintegrate prisoners into Dutch society.

Sources tell RLT those restrictions mean it might be more attractive to send ‘vreemdelingen in het strafrecht’ or aliens in criminal law – prisoners without Dutch nationality – to Estonia. They do not have as many legal protections and do not need to be reintegrated before their release.

Several years ago, Belgian and Norwegian prisoners were sent to the Netherlands, which had a surplus of cells at the time. “The past shows that there are options to make agreements between countries,” Coenradie told the Telegraaf last month, labeling the plan as “very possible”.