There are many inmates who are allowed to share two in one room, which increases the risk of discomfort and incidents, according to Martin Holmgren.
- It can be about threats, violence and harassment between inmates and sometimes threats and violence against staff, he says.
The increase in incidents in recent years can be seen in the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's statistics.
- It is clear that with the occupancy situation we have now, the risk of this increases.
There have just been more inmates, says Martin Holmgren.
Relapse prevention
A large part of the prison service's mission is to work on recidivism prevention.
- It is about ensuring that you have good employment, good education, and the opportunity to work in the treatment programs that exist.
It is clear that when the number of inmates increases, it is difficult to get everyone into full employment and that everyone gets a chance to work equally qualitatively in the treatment, says Holmgren.
More staff have been brought in, but that does not solve the problems.
- There may be other obstacles, such as space.
Not everyone can work in the same room at the same time, says Martin Holmgren.
2000 new places are planned
According to the Director General, the problem lies in the fact that a lot was decommissioned a number of years ago and that the maintenance was not taken care of in the existing premises.
- Then came a trend break in 2016-2017, since then the numbers for inmates have turned up sharply, says Holmgren.
To meet the problems, 2,000 new places are planned in ten years' time, but it is doubtful whether this will solve the situation according to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service itself.
- No, we believe that we will need to continue working with emergency sites with double coatings, says Martin Holmgren.