The Prison Service stops visits and permits

The Prison Service stops visits to prisoners at all institutions and detention centers with immediate effect. The prisoners' permits are also set, and their own settings in the institutions are postponed.

- Here you are deprived of liberty and have no opportunity to influence your situation yourself. We also have a serious overcrowding situation where you can often share a cell with a cellmate, ”says Lennart Palmgren, director of the institution, detention and free care, who made the decision.

Many prisoners also belong to the medical risk groups and are therefore particularly vulnerable to the virus.

- They have underlying diseases, many are addicts. The other part is the staff part, that we risk getting sick leave and difficult to staff simply, says Palmgren.

However, prisoners may continue to receive visits from defenders, prosecutors and police personnel. Lennart Palmgren says that prisons and detainees do not have the capacity to conduct meetings and interrogate through separating glass walls.

- The legal processes must proceed, it is a socially important task. We also think that authorities themselves have a responsibility to cooperate, that every individual and official has a responsibility to communicate whether you feel symptoms or not, he says.

To date, no prisoner or employee in Swedish prisons or detention has been found infected with the corona virus, according to Palmgren. If so, the prisoner will be isolated while waiting for recovery.

- In the first situation, there is an insulation in the room, and then we have the opportunity to support with self-medication and nurse who are at the institutions. Should the course of the disease become worse and urgent, it is the general health care and ambulance that applies, says Palmgren.