Why Norway Is Renting Prisons in the Netherlands

The crime rate in the Netherlands has been steadily declining since 2004. This country is so safe that authorities closed 19 operating prisons in 2013, resulting in the unemployment of hundreds of people. To maintain jobs in the remaining facilities, a decision was made to fill them with so-called 'imported criminals'.

In 2015, Norway sent 240 prisoners to the Netherlands. Norwegians are renting Dutch prisons because, at that time, there were about 1,000 Norwegian inmates that needed to be transferred to Norwegian correctional institutions, which were, however, overcrowded.