Some interesting news out of Finland today reveals the Finnish Government’s plans to utilize PFS for a unique reason.

The Finnish Government’s central purchasing body Hansel Ltd., through an elongated procedure, has chosen Prepaid Financial Services to manage its first prepaid card program for the nation’s Criminal Sanctions Agency, the organization responsible for the Finnish prison system.

Conceived back in May, the new program makes prepaid card accessible to inmates on arrival in both open and closed prisons across Finland. Prison personnel will be able to load funds on to each inmate’s card and then subsequently IBAN payments can be made by inmate family members and by the prisons themselves for salary payments.

Each card comes with a specific IBAN number and a specific prisoner, allowing the CSA to streamline fund distribution to a prepaid account. This procedure works exactly like a basic run of the mill bank account.

“Offering a cashless alternative is beneficial to both our prison service and to inmates as we will be able to disburse spend on the cards on a constant basis. This not only allows us to eliminate any issues with the safety of prisoners’ transactions but also allows us economies of scale by operating a more streamlined and efficient system across all of our prison network,” commented Eija-Riitta Nelin, Project Manager, CSA.

“Crucial to the success of this project is an extremely agile technology platform that provides the flexibility to take what is often a mainstream consumer product and adapt it for use within the prison system. We believe that PFS will deliver a highly bespoke and strategic solution,” said Timo Malmberg, Category Manager, Hansel

“Finland has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to its penal policies and although developing a prepaid card solution for a prison service was not without its challenges, if any government was going to successfully navigate these waters, it was Finland” Noel Moran, CEO, Prepaid Financial Services said. “Increasingly, more governments and local authorities both at home and abroad, are getting a better understand of the benefits of a cashless system. I believe we’re only just scratching the service of the ways and means this technology can be applied.”