Funding shortfall leaves prison cells unused as sentences expire

mbl.is reports that Iceland’s Prison Administration has been unable to use all available prison places in recent years because of insufficient funding, according to its director general, Ragna Bjarnadóttir.

Speaking on the mbl.is programme Dagmál, Bjarnadóttir said the wait to serve prison sentences had grown longer while more sentences expired without being enforced. Seventy-eight prison sentences expired last year.

She said it was essential to make full use of the prison places already available. The administration is also considering temporary measures while it waits for a new prison at Stóra-Hraun, including temporary accommodation and a possible temporary expansion of capacity.

Bjarnadóttir said work to reduce the list of people waiting to be called in to serve their sentences should begin immediately.