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.Intitutions
History 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.
Population 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.International Centre for Prison Studies: Estonia Retrieved 2011-07-29International Centre for Prison Studies: Europe - Prison Population Rates per 100,000 Retrieved 2011-07-29 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.
+ Estonian prisoners and prison population per 100,000 inhabitants (from the estonian prisons official webpage). 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 2010Prison_population 2002-2012 ec.europa.eu 3393 254 2011 3400 255 2012 3286 248
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