After professional training in Denmark, 23 correctional officers from Kosovo began work this week at Ringe, Vestre and Storstrøm prisons.
For six months, they will be part of the regular staff at these facilities. Their duties will include working in prison wings and moving independently through prison corridors.
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The agency responsible for Danish prisons confirmed the arrangement, linking it to training for the opening of a new prison in Gjilan, Kosovo. Mads Beyer, the governor who will be responsible for that prison, said the work period is part of the staff preparation plan.
In 2025, the officers from Kosovo trained by accompanying their Danish colleagues. They will now be included in regular work schedules and serve alongside them. According to Beyer, they are likely to work with a Danish colleague during the first few weeks, with the aim of subsequently serving alongside experienced Danish colleagues.
Beyer also acknowledged that staff shortages and the large number of prisoners in Denmark played a significant role in the decision. During the first six months of this year, Danish prisons recorded their highest level of overcrowding, with more prisoners than their official capacity allows.
The Correctional Officers’ Union in Denmark had opposed the scheme since 2024, when politicians decided that a group of officers from Kosovo would train in the country’s prisons. The union’s then-chairman, Bo Yde Sorensen, had warned that they should not work in prison wings or move through prison corridors carrying keys.
The union’s new chairman, René Larsen, says their concern is becoming a reality and that the arrangement could cause difficulties. He suspects that the return of officers from Kosovo to Danish prisons is also linked to the problems facing the country’s correctional system.
According to Larsen, the union would prefer to address staff shortages by recruiting Danish officers, retaining them and reducing sick leave. He acknowledges that bringing in officers from Kosovo may be better than having no reinforcements at all, but says it is not the solution the union would prefer.
Larsen also questions whether their previous training has adequately prepared them to work in Danish prisons. He noted that they spent six months in Denmark, three months in classes and three in practical training, but stressed that they come from a country with a different culture, rules and systems, and that they do not speak the language. In his view, these differences and language barriers could directly affect their work with prisoners.
An incident earlier this year at Vestre prison has also raised questions: two correctional officers from Kosovo were suspected of using violence against a prisoner during training. Beyer said the incident had been taken seriously, that the institutions had taken the necessary steps and that the case had been referred to the police. Nevertheless, he described the overall experience with the officers as positive.
Asked whether relying on officers from Kosovo amounted to a failure for Denmark, Beyer did not characterize it that way. He said his priority was preparing staff for the opening of the prison in Kosovo, and that it was positive if, in the meantime, these officers could reinforce their colleagues in other Danish prisons.
