Crowded in Sweden's prisons - prisoners must share cell

Prison congestion increases the risk of worry and trouble.

- The situation is strained, especially when it comes to places at institutions with the highest security class, says Jörgen From Nordin, Deputy Security Manager for the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.

During the spring and early summer, the lack of places has grown worse. An increased rate of investigation has enabled more people to be sent out from the detention centers, which have long been overcrowded, to the institutions to serve their sentences. Currently, there are just over 400 more inmates in the country's prisons compared to the same period last year.

One of the institutions that is severely strained is the Norrtalje facility. The facility has 182 seats, and it is almost fully occupied all the time.

Norrtälje is one of the highest security classified establishments in Sweden. Here, among others, are people convicted of serious sex crimes.

- It gets more difficult, it wears more on staff when it is full and the risk of noise, anxiety and disruptions increases, because neither our clients are used to it being fully occupied, so it is a challenge, says Stefan Bengtsson, head of Norrtälje Institution.

Double coating is not used at the Norrtalje facility. The cells are too small for that. Instead, they are often forced to say no to more clients, which means that another institution in the same security class may take double-occupancy to cope with the pressure.

- When our seats are fully occupied, it is full, so we can not take in more, but can send clients to other institutions that have emergency places or large enough rooms to have more in the same cell, says Stefan Bengtsson.

In the Government's spring bill, the Prison and Probation Service received increased funding, but that money should primarily go to increased transport assignments and that is not enough for the needs that exist, the Prison and Probation Service claims.

- No, we need more places, and above all we will try to create this by expanding existing facilities. Internationally, we still have small units in Sweden and, given the security requirements, it is an efficient use of the resources we have, says Jörgen From Nordin.

Now, the Prison and Probation Service hopes for even more money in the autumn budget, but the problems will continue for many years to come and double occupancy as well, the deputy security chief believes.

- In the short term we can solve it with double coating, but in the longer term we need more places and partly we need to look at what forms you can serve your sentence on. For example, we dare that more people could serve their penalties and that would reduce the pressure on our facilities, says Jörgen From Nordin.