MOSCOW, November 6 (RIA Novosti) - Latvia could rent out its prisons to take in inmates from other European Union countries, the head of the country's Prison Administration Board told the Panorama news program on Friday.
"If we can't export anything other than our own workforce, then I have an idea - we could build several prisons to accommodate EU inmates," Visvaldis Pukite said on the Latvian program.
According to Pukite's calculations, the project could yield an annual profit of 5.7 million euro ($8.5 million).
However, the country's justice officials have reacted with surprised to the proposal, pointing out that Latvia's prisons are already overcrowded.
State Secretary Martins Lazdovskis also dismissed the idea, saying that most Latvian prisons do not correspond to EU prison standards.
Latvia has been one of the hardest hit of all EU states by the global economic crisis. Its government resigned in February after a wave of street protests against a planned increase in VAT and other unpopular measures to help the budget meet EU commitments.
The head of the country's new government, approved by parliament in March, has said Latvia is on the verge of bankruptcy.
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