Denmark to ban prisoners with life-terms from new romantic relationships

NordenBladet — A new bill has been introduced by the Danish government that will ban prisoners with life terms from entering new romantic relationships from persons outside of the prison system.

Under the new proposed law, prisoners will only be allowed to remain in contact with those close to them within the first 10 years of their sentence. The purpose of this law is to counter the groupie culture associated with long-term prisoners.

The law was proposed after it came to light that a 17-year-old girl had fallen in love with Peter Madsen, a convicted killer who has been serving a life sentence since 2018.

Danish Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup explained that relationships like this “must obviously be stopped” and added that prisoners “should not be able to use our prisons as dating centers or media platforms to brag about their crimes.”

Haekkerup followed up by stating, “We have seen disgusting examples in recent years of prisoners who have committed abominable crimes contacting young people in order to gain their sympathy and attention.”

This new law will also pull the plug on long-term prisoners having the freedom to talk about their crimes via social media or other entertainment ventures such as podcasts.