There are currently approximately 4,300 prison places in Swedish penitentiary care, and they are not enough. In order to cope with an increased number of prisoners and longer sentences, Swedish prisons have increasingly placed two inmates in the same cell, and in new prisons, double rooms are expected right from the start.
A major expansion of Swedish prisons is underway, and last spring the Correctional Service published its analysis which stated that with the reforms of the Tidö Agreement, that expansion would have to be greatly accelerated.
Instead of, as planned, expanding by around 3,000 places in ten years, they expected to have to expand by approximately 8,000 places.
But the analysis did not take into account the entire Tidö agreement, and the government has estimated in internal documents that a significantly larger expansion will be required. It could be as much as another 5,000 seats.
This means that the total need, according to the new calculations, lands at upwards of 18,000 places, to be compared with a large prison in Sweden, which includes 400 places.
Analyzed different scenarios
Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M) says in a comment that an analysis of various scenarios has been made in the government office.
– Against this background, the Correctional Service has recently been tasked with drawing up a new and more expansive plan for expansion, he says.
Gunnar Strömmer tells TV4 Nyheterna that it will require so-called cold condensation, i.e. two in each cell, to reach that goal. He also says that Sweden is looking at renting prison places abroad, something that several other countries have rejected due to high costs.
Longer confinement and prison ships
In documents from the government office that TV4 Nyheterna has seen, more unconventional methods to deal with the lack of space are also discussed. It is about reducing the number of out-of-home stays through longer confinement, procuring prison ships and placing prisoners in other countries.
But it is not certain that it will be enough. The prison service also sees risks in placing two people in each cell.
– It becomes very crowded, which causes chafing, conflicts, irritation, which of course can become a security risk, says Susanne Wedin, who is the Norwegian Prison and Probation Service’s director for prisons, detention centers and the parole department.