Children feel miserable in overcrowded prisons – “Breaking apart”

A record number of young people are in custody at the same time that the detention centers are overcrowded.
Now alarms advokaten Nooshi Aknooni Ficks that the citation is urgent for young people whose isolation is not broken – even though it is stipulated by law.
– They have panic attacks, break down and become depressed, she says in Nyhetsmorgan.

A record number of young people are in custody in Sweden. In five years, the number of children under the age of 18 in our detention centers has multiplied. The prison service testifies that the situation is so serious that there are not enough detention places.

– The situation is very strained and the detention times are too long, says lawyer Nooshi Aknooni Ficks in Nyhetsmorgon and adds:

– The risk of conflicts increases and the risk of suicidal thoughts increases. Now it is so unbelievably full that the detention center is occupied so that you have to share a room, a small detention room. Clients may sit in detention cells even if they are in custody.

“Many feel very unwell”

Nooshi Aknooni Ficks works with young criminals and is critical of the fact that the correctional service is unable to break the isolation of young people in custody for at least four hours a day, something that is stipulated by law in Sweden.

– Many feel very badly, we must bear in mind that they are suspected of crimes, they are not convicted of crimes. They have panic attacks, break down and become depressed, she says and points out:

– It’s hard for an adult, but much harder for children.

The first children’s department is now being built

Three years ago, the Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law, which means that there are rules for how the police and the correctional service can handle criminal suspects under the age of 18. To meet this, the country’s first children’s ward is currently being built at the prison in Malmö.

– We want to create an environment that is good for them and care for them in the right way. We have an obligation to investigate crimes, but at the same time these children are in a position where we can reach them in a good way and get them to break their criminal path, says Emil Andersson, head of the police’s investigative unit in Malmö, in Nyhetsmorgon.

They must improve the physical furnishings, create better competence among the staff and collaborate with social services to prevent relapse.

– There is a reason why young people have become criminals. Maybe they have been forced into a criminal environment and here we want to break that.