The Prison Service: More people should be able to serve sentences with a footcuff

- Today it is possible that you can apply for a footcuff if you are sentenced to a maximum of six months imprisonment. We believe that the government should change the rules so that those sentenced to one year in prison should be able to serve their sentence with footcuffs, says Emma Ekstrand, head of the unit at the Prison Service to SVT News.

Today, about 1,500 people are serving their sentence with electronic monitoring. Ten years ago it was almost double. The Prison and Probation Service is conducting its own analysis on why so few are applying to convert their sentences.

The reasons may be many why fewer are applying. Among other things, it can be difficult to understand how life becomes with the foot buoy. Others would rather face their sentence in prison, or the application itself may be complicated.

- As it is today, anyone convicted of a crime must apply for a footcuff himself. Then, of course, we do checks on those who apply and if they are appropriate. For example, they must have a permanent address and not have any abuse problems. We now believe that we should have a greater decision-making power and decide which ones are appropriate to serve the sentence with footcuffs. We have also addressed this in our request to the government, says Emma Ekstrand.

Today, the foot buoy is controlled by a radio signal. The Prison Service wants to change so that the foot buoy is instead controlled with GPS. Then you could, for example, enter zones and times, when and where the convicted sheep are located.

- It is a very old legislation that regulates electronic monitoring today. The legislation is from 1994 and the surveillance would work much better if you monitored the buoys with GPS. So we also want to change that, says Emma Ekstrand.

According to the Prison Service's calculations, an additional 600 people are estimated to be able to serve their sentence with footcuffs if they changed the current law. One site costs about SEK 2,300 per day in the current crime category. A foot buoy costs SEK 500 per day, so it would also mean a big saving for the prison care.

Justice Minister Morgan Johansson (S) is cautious in his statements regarding the prison's home location.

- We have just received it and of course we will go through their proposals. But I know that you have had similar proposals before that have not gone through. If you increase the penalty value up to one year in prison, at the same time there will be more serious crimes that the convicted may serve with a footcuff. I think it can stick in the eyes of crime victims, Morgan Johansson tells SVT News.

- I can also add that we will get more convicts who deserve their punishment with footcuffs. A bill on how young offenders should be able to be monitored by electronic surveillance is underway this fall, says Morgan Johansson.