State adds 120 cells as Helsinki seeks housing on prison site

Plans to close Helsinki Prison in the Sörnäinen district have stalled after the state decided to add 120 new prison places, Yle reports. The modular cells are intended to ease an acute shortage of prison places.

Two new modular cell units will be built at the prison, with 120 single-occupancy places in total. The project will also include exercise yards and changes to the cafeteria and social facilities.

Senaatti-kiinteistöt, the state property management agency, said the modular units would be leased from Adapteo Finland for 10 years. The arrangement does not determine the prison’s long-term future, according to Mikko Järvinen, director of the agency’s security properties division.

The prison has undergone renovations costing 80 million euros in recent years. Järvinen said it could remain in use well into the late 2030s, when the next possible major renovations would be considered.

“No decision has been made about the future of the prison,” Järvinen said. He compared the modular cells to relocatable schools or day-care centres, while noting that prison structures have different safety requirements.

Helsinki has long supported closing the prison and developing the site for housing. Former Helsinki Mayor Juhana Vartiainen promoted the idea, and 2035 had previously been outlined as a possible closure year. In spring 2023, several city councillors proposed housing construction on the site.

Rikhard Manninen, Helsinki’s director of land use, said the city still strongly wanted to develop the prison area for residential use, but was currently waiting.

One earlier proposal was for Helsinki to offer a location for an entirely new modern prison, for example in Östersundom. Manninen said the state had not clearly shown an interest in advancing that plan.

Helsinki’s current city strategy also calls for the development of the Hanasaari area together with the Suvilahti events area, the Tukkutori area and the Sörnäinen prison area. The goal is to create an urban and attractive whole.

“If the state changes its mind, we are ready to continue the discussion immediately,” Manninen said.