'Not a Dating Central': Denmark to Bar Life Sentence Prisoners From Online Courtship

In addition to restricting life sentencers' romantic life, the Danish government also seeks to ban them from speaking publicly about their crimes, which would effectively prevent them from speaking on podcasts or writing about their crimes on social media.

Denmark is seeking to prevent prisoners serving life sentences from coming into contact with the outside world by using social media, establishing new relationships online, and freely discussing their crimes publicly.

The six-point bill in the works is specifically aimed at limiting the ability of people with life sentences to "date or give publicity to their crimes, for example on social media", the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

"Life sentencers, and people in safe custody who have been given a punishment that could extend to life in prison, should not be able to use our prisons as a dating central or media platform to boast about their crimes", Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup proclaimed, as quoted by TV2.

The proposal would also apply to people in so-called "safe custody", which is a type of sentence that keeps convicts imprisoned indefinitely, as long as they are deemed dangerous.

The ministry said it wants to deny prisoners serving such sentences the opportunity to "engage in new relationships" at least during the first 10 years of their sentences.

At present, prison inmates serving life are free to call, write to, and even receive visits from people with whom they have established contact during their sentences, a practice that the government seeks to stop.

"Recent years have seen distasteful examples of inmates who have committed vile crimes gaining contact with very young people to get their sympathy and attention", Hækkerup stressed.

On top of restrictions on the convicts' love lives, the proposal would also ban them from speaking publicly about their crimes for the sake of victims' privacy and well-being. That would effectively ban them from speaking on podcasts or writing about their crimes on social media.

The bill has already garnered the initial support of the opposition right-of-centre "blue" bloc. The liberal-conservative party Venstre, the Conservatives, and the national-conservative Danish People's Party all signalled their support.

"We have seen far too many distasteful cases where it has been possible to communicate with the outside world from prison, and life sentencers have been able to describe their crimes in the press. That must end", Venstre justice spokesperson Preben Bang Henriksen said.

The ruling Social Democrats' left-wing allies from the Socialist People's Party (SF), would prefer to target troublemakers rather than a blanket ban.

"The rules shouldn't apply to people who are serving their life sentences in a normal and quiet way", its justice spokeswoman Karina Lorentzen said.

By contrast, University of Copenhagen professor and human rights specialist Jens Elo Rytter ventured that the ban would intervene in the prisoners' private lives and raise questions about censorship.

If granted the necessary parliamentary backing, the bill could come into effect on 1 January 2022.