A total of 10 convicts between the ages of 18 and 21 sit in Täbyanstalten’s special youth department. They are kept separate from other incarcerated adults.
There is a special staff group of 10 correctional officers who only work with these young people. Correctional officer Haider Al-Badri is one of them and he believes that building relationships with the young people is an important first step towards change.
– I listen to them and try to make them understand that there is another life than constantly looking for “kicks”, says Haider Al-Badri.
Big lack of space
In 2006, the Correctional Service began working with youth departments in a total of eight institutions around the country. But due to the strained space situation, seven of them have had to close down – and now only the youth department at Täbyanstalten remains.
And precisely the Täbyanstalten’s department could become a starting point for how a youth prison can be designed. Which the government has tasked the Correctional Service with completing by the summer of 2026.
– I see it as a big challenge, says the director of the institution Fredrik Thunberg.
– We have seen the difficulties Sis has had with these young people. Then there is the whole issue of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which we must take into account.
Children’s rights organizations critical
Children between the ages of 15-17 who have committed serious crimes are generally not sentenced to prison. Since 2018, a total of twelve minors throughout the country have been sentenced to prison.
But several organizations such as Bris, Rädda Barnen and Unicef believe that youth prisons are not the right way to go.
According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Sweden has a special responsibility for children who commit crimes. Among other things, it is believed that the focus should be on rehabilitation and reintegration into society, rather than punishment.
How do you see the criminal identity being reinforced when children end up in prison?
– I don’t think that risk exists for this group we are talking about. They are already in the criminal environment, but it is clear that you get to know others who have committed crimes, but identity is already set long before, says Fredrik Thunberg.
He emphasizes that in the youth group they work a lot with staff presence and that they constantly challenge criminal values and attitudes.
– It is important that we do not let these attitudes persist and make the young people understand that: “This is not how people think”, he says.