According to the Tidö agreement, the new government wants to lower the limit for so-called mandatory detention. Something that is expected to increase the pressure on the already hard-working Prison Service. But in several places there is an acute shortage of places and staff, and the union is questioning how the proposal can be implemented.
At the correctional facility in Borås, the soccer field has been replaced with temporary modules with 36 new seats, half of which have already received bunk beds for double occupancy.
The correctional service is struggling with space and staff shortages and is building similar modules all over the country. And when the union at the detention center in Gothenburg, where a crisis agreement prevails, hears of tougher detention rules, the reaction becomes a question.
– Where should we place them? After all, we are fully booked in most of the Correctional Service, says Stefan Römer, chairman of Seko Kriminalvården West.
Despite modular construction in around 50 places, the management of the correctional service also foresees a continued very difficult occupancy situation. According to its own forecast, the authority needs to grow by over 4,000 annual workforce by 2025, in an already critical recruitment situation.
See more about the lack of space in Swedish prisons, in the player above.