Citizens from Romania and Lithuania top the list of nationalities represented in Danish prisons.

Prisons packed with romanians

The number of foreign prisoners in Danish prisons and detention centres has never been higher

Chances are the person behind those bars is from eastern Europe

As of this moment, there are 387 eastern Europeans sitting behind bars somewhere in Denmark. That number has risen ten percent since 2011. Eastern Europeans now make up one tenth of the country’s total prison population according to numbers released by Kriminalforsorgen, the nation’s prison and probation system.

“There has been a marked increase of eastern European inmates over the last year,” Peter Vesterheden, the head warden of the Copenhagen prison system, told Politiken newspaper.

Citizens from Romania and Lithuania top the list of nationalities represented in Danish prisons.

A jailer in the southern Jutland town of Sønderborg said his facility is mostly filled with thieves and burglars from eastern Europe.

“We have room for 26 inmates, and 16 of those spots are filled with prisoners from Poland or Lithuania,” Per Schultz told Politiken. “Most of them are in here for committing burglary.”

Research from the national bureau of investigation, Nationale Efterforskningscenter, showed that foreign criminals were responsible for 15-25 percent of all burglaries in 2012 and that number has remained static during the first half of 2013.