Danish Justice Minister Nicolai Wammen has decided to end the free television subscriptions that residents of Kærshovedgård had been receiving at taxpayers' expense, including channels such as Al Jazeera and TV3+, according to an article on the BT website.
Ten paid television channels are available free of charge to residents of the deportation center.
Rejected asylum seekers and people convicted of crimes and facing deportation, residing at the Kirshofedgaard center, were able to watch 10 television channels for free, including TV 2, Al Jazeera, TV3+ and Dubai TV International.
But this situation will now come to an end, after the Minister of Justice informed the Danish Prisons Agency, Danmarks Fængsler, that he wants to cancel the television subscription that was available free of charge to the center's residents.
Famen told B.T. that some people sentenced to deportation for crimes were still receiving free television packages at the deportation center, adding that they are «people who are not supposed to be in Denmark,» and therefore he does not think it is fair for Danish taxpayers to pay the cost of enabling the center’s residents to watch Al Jazeera and other paid channels.
The minister requests the cancellation of subscriptions as soon as possible.
The Minister of Justice explained that he had asked the Danish Prison Agency to cancel television subscriptions in Kershofedgaard as soon as possible.
He added that if residents of the center want to watch news, movies, or series that depend on subscription in the future, they will have to pay for them themselves.
Residents will need to purchase televisions themselves.
After the subscription is cancelled, residents of Kirschhofdgaard will have to provide their own televisions if they want to watch television in their rooms, as the rooms have so far had an antenna port that allows the use of the paid television service.
Televisions are also available in common areas in some sections of the center, according to a response provided by the government to the Danish parliament.
Approximately 230 people reside in the center.
The Kershofedgaard deportation center, which falls under the Danish Prison Agency, houses about 230 people, including asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected, people living in Denmark under what is known as "tolerated residence", as well as people convicted of serious crimes who have been sentenced to deportation.
People convicted of crimes and subject to deportation make up more than 60% of the center's total population.
The residents are not detained, but some are subject to specific obligations.
The residents of the center are not held behind doors like in a prison system, but many of them are subject to a fixed obligation to report to the authorities or to be present at the residence daily or according to procedures, while others are required to stay overnight at the center during the night.
Neighbors of the center spoke of fear and thefts
During the spring, BT published a series of reports about Kirschhofdgaard, in which a number of the center's neighbors spoke about the fear they said they had had to live with for years.
In this context, several local residents explained that they continue to experience unwanted visits from some of the center's residents, citing incidents they said included bicycle theft and the concealment of drugs, according to BT.
More than 1100 reports in 3 years
New figures from the Midt-og Vestjyllands Politi show that over the past three years, more than 1,100 reports of incidents in the vicinity of the deportation center have been registered, and in 2025 alone, the police recorded a total of 64 reports relating to «suspicious behavior», compared to 39 such reports in 2024.
