The year 2009 was preparation for the new organisation: the Criminal Sanctions Agency began its operation in the beginning of 2010. It consists of the former Criminal Sanctions Agency as well as the Prison Service and the Probation service.

The new organisation necessitated new structures. Three Criminal sanctions regions were developed in the country based on the regional population development and prison popula-tion rate. Prisons, Community Sanctions Offices and an Assessment Centre operate within each region. The administrative support activities are concentrated in the three Criminal sanctions regions. Health care for prisoners will remain under the responsibility of the Health Care Unit.

The aim of the reform is to move towards more open enforcement of sentences. In practise, this means the increasing use of community sanctions and open prisons as well as the im-plementation of controlled and gradual release. The move of focus from closed prisons to open prisons is demonstrated by the increase in the daily average number of prisoners in open institutions. In 2009, on a daily average, there were 32 percent of sentenced prisoners in open institutions.

There has been a slight decrease in the number of prisoners successively for four years. In 2009, the average number of prisoners was 3 492, in 2008 it was 3 526. Both the number of sentenced prisoners and fine default prisoners declined. The number of female prisoners in-creased slightly from the previous year, but the daily average of foreign prisoners increased by 14 percent compared to the previous year, from 325 prisoners to 370.

The number of enforced community sentences, as well as their daily average, decreased compared to the previous year. On a daily average, there were 4 308 offenders serving community service, which is nearly 10 percent less than in the previous year. The decrease was mainly a result of the reduced number of supervised parolees and offenders serving community service.

The security situation in prisons remained stable. Although a significantly higher number of prisoners were placed in open prisons than in the previous year, the level of secure custody of prisons remained good. For example, only one prisoner escaped from inside the walls of the prison, when there were eight escapes during the previous year.

Additional information:

Director General Esa Vesterbacka, tel.+358 10 36 88400, e-mail esa.vesterbacka@om.fi
Head of Communications Usko Määttä, tel. +358 10 36 88570, e-mail usko.maatta@om.fi

Criminal Sanctions Agency Annual Report 2009 'Time of unification'