Sweden is moving away from criminal rehabilitation in favour of US-style mass incarceration, experts have said, as the country prepares to rent places in Estonian jails to help house its rapidly expanding prison population. Last week the justice department said it had instructed Kriminalvården (the Swedish prison and probation service) to “make the necessary preparations” for the Estonian scheme. The government, which depends on the support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, is now considering a proposal to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 for severe offences. The Sweden Democrats have called for the age to be lowered to 13. The justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, said the deal with Estonia marked “an important step to relieve the Swedish prison and probation service” from a “pressured situation”.