Record number of young people in custody – rights are violated

Record number of young people in custody rights are
full screen The staff at Stockholm’s detention center have not been able to cope with the development of a large increase in young inmates. Archive image. Photo: Per Danielsson/TT

A record number of young people are in custody in the Stockholm region.

Detained children have special rights, but the Correctional Service does not keep up and breaks the law, reports TV4 Nyheterna.

37 people under the age of 18 are in custody in the Stockholm region. That is a threefold increase since January of this year.

– We have not had this many detainees at any time in modern times, either in terms of young people under the age of 18 or the total number of inmates in our detention centers, says Johan Modin, head of the Correctional Service in the Stockholm region to TV4.

Detainees under the age of 18 must go to school. In addition, the children have the right to break their isolation and spend time with someone else for at least four hours per day.

These are requirements that the Correctional Service has not been able to meet due to staff shortages.

– During the year, we have not been able to meet the development that has been. We have had to add resources this autumn and we will follow how it goes.

afbl-general-01