The homes are run by the State Board of Institutions (Sis). One of the escapees is a 19-year-old who is connected to a criminal network that has been involved in several shootings in Stockholm. Now in June, he would have been put on trial for serious weapons offences, but the trial had to be postponed because he disappeared from his home, Sis Stigby on Visingsö outside Jönköping, where he served ten months of youth supervision.
“It’s not good, of course,” says Catharina Högberg, head of department.
Sis Stigby has had problems with violence for a long time. For example, staff have had to lock themselves in while waiting for the police, and recently a boy in compulsory care was released after a window was broken.