RIGA, Oct 30 (LETA) - A new women's prison in Cesis could be built within three years and would cost EUR 7 million, Minister of Justice Inese Libina-Egnere (New Unity) said in an interview on Latvian Radio on Thursday.

The Minister stressed that the implementation of the project could start soon.

Of all prisoners in Latvia, 5 percent, or about 200, are women. If re-socialization is targeted correctly, it is women who are less likely to return to prison, the Minister explained.

She stresses that the current women's prison in the Riga suburb of Ilguciems is not suitable for children under the age of four, who are also in prison with their mothers.

The Minister points out that the construction of the women's prison is necessary, among other reasons, because many of the women in prison also have children who, by law, must stay in prison with their mothers until the age of four, and the new prison is needed so that the children do not stay in prison, but can go to kindergarten outside the prison during the day and then return to their mothers.

It has already been reported that the Prison Administration is planning to establish a women's prison in Cesis. Currently there is a correctional institution for minors in Cesis.