By Katie Amey For Mailonline

Caribbean cruises in a bid to rehabilitate them

In five years, city councils have spent 42 million kroner on the programme

There are two or three troubled youths on each of the boats

Over the course of a year, they study and work on board

According to officials, the aim is to remove the teens from temptation

The Danish have really pushed the boat out to rid the country of crime – by sending criminals on cruises to the Caribbean in a bid to rehabilitate them.

In all, 26 city councils throughout Denmark have opted to send 59 young criminals and drug abusers to the islands.

In just five years the city governments, or municipalities, have spent a combined amount of 42 million kroner (or just over £41million) on these two-year treatment programmes.

Danish newspaper, Metroexpress, first reported these figures on Monday after analysing records from Denmark’s 98 municipalities.

As part of the programme, two or three young offenders will be put on a boat, along with a captain and a teacher, to sail through the Caribbean.

The children receive their lessons on board over the course of a year, at which point they head back to Denmark to take their exams.

However, some harder criminals may be sent out again on a second voyage.

And while the programme is open to all municipalities, Frederikssund Municipality is particularly keen on it, according to Metroexpress.

‘We do it so that they can get away from the environment of drug abuse,’ Frederikssund’s director of family affairs, Flemming Olsen, said.

The Local also reports that the municipality’s mayor, John Schmidt Andersen, is staunch in defending the eight million kroner spend.

‘I agree that it looks strange,’ he said. ‘But this isn’t a cruise. There are demands made. I don’t care what they do as long as they stop abusing [drugs].’

Unfortunately, despite the cost, the endeavour doesn’t always work.

One formerly-troubled youth, now aged 22, who completed the on-board programme, told Metroexpress that drug and alcohol abuse doesn’t necessarily cease during their year abroad.

The students are reportedly allowed to drink alcohol during weekend trips and at official arrangements and apparently, marijuana is surprisingly easy to source on several Caribbean islands.

IMAGES:

In Denmark, youth criminals may be sent on year-long Caribbean voyages in an attempt to rehabilitate them

In the past five years, 59 youths have been sent abroad for such programmes – at a cost of 42million kroners

For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3115022/No-ball-chain-Denmark-spends-41m-sending-criminal-youths-Caribbean-cruises-bid-rehabilitate-them.html#ixzz3cTjUpYP4