The enforcement of prison sentences and community sanctions will then be transferred to a new central administrative board, the Prison and Probation Agency. At the same time the Prison Department of the Ministry of Justice will be abolished, and a Criminal Policy Department will be founded for strategic direction of the administrative sector.

The reform is based on the Sentence Enforcement Administration Act, ratified by Parliament in February 2001.

Probation and After-Care and Prison Administration will be united

The new central administrative board, the Prison and Probation Agency, will answer for leading and developing the enforcement of sanctions directed against liberty, ie community sanctions and prison sentences. Besides, the new board will also answer for directing the work of probation, after-care and prison administration and for common tasks of administration and support. The new board will be subject to the administration of the Ministry of Justice and work for targets agreed upon with the Ministry.

Enforcement authorities subject to the Prison and Probation Agency will be the Probation Service and the Prison Service. In connection with the reform the Probation and After-Care Association, governed by public law, will be abolished, and its tasks in enforcing community sanctions will be transferred to the new Probation Service.

The Probation Service will thus be responsible for the enforcement of community sanctions, consisting of community service and youth sentences and the supervision of conditionally sentenced juveniles and persons released on parole. The Probation Service, as the former Probation Association, consists of regional units and is headed by a Chief Director.

The Prison Service will as previously consist of closed institutions, open institutions and hospital units, it will be headed by a Director General. The Director General of Prison Service will also serve as the Director of the Prison and Probation Agency.

The Prison Department will be abolished

In connection with the reform the operational leadership of Prison Service Administration will be removed from the ministerial level. Thus the Prison Department of the Ministry of Justice will be abolished.

A considerably smaller Criminal Policy Department will be founded at the Ministry. It will focus on strategic leadership of its administrative sector, mainly on general questions relating to criminal policy, crime prevention and the functioning and development of the penal system.