Women, who account for approximately 5% of Iceland’s prison population, will not be able to serve their sentences until the women’s prison in Hólmsheiði is finished in April of next year, reports RÚV.
This is in part due to budget cuts that will lead to the closure of the Women’s prison in Kópavogur in May.
According to data from the Icelandic Prison Service the number of women in the Icelandic prison system fluctuates greatly year on year. In 2000 for example, there were only 4 women serving prison sentences in Iceland, but in 2009 and 2012 there were as many as 23.
The current director of the Icelandic Prison Service, Páll Winkel, told RÚV that this will not change the length of inmates’ prison term, they will just have to wait to actually serve it.
Páll said that it is tough for the future inmates to have to wait around to serve their sentences but that unfortunately his hands are tied.
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