Detained children are isolated “longing for mom”

HThe authors priest Lena Bernell and the detention center Nasir Ahmad Arif are two of the 180 soul carers found in Sweden. At the Sollentuna detention, they meet daily young people who have been arrested for different types of serious crimes.
– vI meet people, not actions, says the detention center Nasir Ahmad Arif.

A Swedish detention center is about six square meters and can be temporary residence for a detainee for up to 20 hours per day. There is no limit to how long a person can be detained in Sweden and the average detention period for children 108 days.

It is very special to sit on the detention center and the younger you are, the more difficult it is. Self -care workers work to meet people where they are. And we do this based on various religious organizations, says Lena Bernell, who is a detention priest at the Sollentuna in Stockholm.

“We meet people, not actions”

In Sweden, there are about 180 soul carers in prisons and institutions and they are coordinated by the Swedish Christian Council. All detainees have the right to practice their religion and meet a self -caregiver. But it is not just religious people who want to meet the soul care.

Sometimes they just want to meet someone and get a human contact. Take a coffee and sit and talk, says Nasir Ahmad Arif, a detention center at the Sollentuna in Stockholm.

Both Nasir and Lena meet the approximately 20 detained children sitting on the Sollentuna, many are suspected of serious crimes. But in many cases, they have not understood the consequences of their deeds until they have detained. And there the conversation becomes important.

Whether they are young or adults, a good self -caregiver is a good listener. We have as a general rule that we meet people, not actions, says Nasir Ahmad Arif.

“They long for mom”

So part of the job of the self -care is to break the isolation. The youngest detainees are isolated for 20 hours a day and it can tear hard on an already tormented conscience full of shame and anxiety, says Lena and Nasir.

Sitting in this small room, it’s like the walls shrink. They are those who have night anxiety, night terrors and long for mom. It does something with someone to be alone so many hours a day. I think none of us can represent what it is like to sit trapped 20 hours in a small room, says the detention priest Lena Bernell.