A 17-year-old convicted of murder was released on Thursday in connection with a visit to the dentist. Now suspicions are being raised that the escape was planned from within the youth home where the boy was placed. At the same time, the prison service calls for armed escorts for high-risk transports. – The only way to make an exemption like this is to know the time and place. How they knew that the client would be at the Public Dental Service at that time is probably what the investigation will focus on, says Joacim Trybom, head of the Prison Service’s national transport unit. When asked if the client himself knows what time he must be at a certain place, Stefan Hell Fröding, press secretary at the State Board of Institutions (Sis), replies in a written comment: “It is not possible to give a general answer, but it depends on the security assessment that carried out”. Hell Fröding further writes that those at Sis who have information about time and place “are the functions that need to know details in order to carry out a planned transport”. Frida Strandberg Landin, union president for Seko within Sis, tells Sekotidningen that the release may have been planned with a mobile phone from inside the locked youth home where the boy was placed. – We suspect that this has been a contributing factor to the exemption, but we will see what the internal investigation shows, she tells the newspaper. “Times are rescheduled” According to the Prison Service, armed releases are very unusual. But as recently as February, a convicted criminal was released in connection with a hospital visit in Norrköping. According to Trybom, the Correctional Service has changed its routines for transport after the incident. In the past, transports have been booked up to a week in advance, which they are now trying to get away from. – We have strengthened the process so that appointments are booked as close as possible and without the client knowing when or where they will be going. Now, this was a Sis client, and I’m not really familiar with their processes, but we’re working with them to get them to implement the same process to reduce the risk of information being leaked. The 17-year-old was classified as likely to escape and, in connection with the release, was provided with hand and waist shackles. An extra correctional officer was included in the transport. Correctional staff are equipped with pepper spray and trained to deal with a person trying to escape – not an armed release. – If there is a risk of release, we request help from the police, but in this case there was no such information. 100,000 transports The national transport unit of the Correctional Service carries out 100,000 transports every year. Around 500 of these take place with a police escort because there is considered to be a risk of exoneration attempts. Too few, believes Joacim Trybom. – If we are to protect more transports, there should be a broadened mission to provide us with escorts. If we now see that perhaps 3,000 transports are carried out with the level of safety as with these two exemptions, we must get help. The Sweden Democrats’ legal policy spokesperson Richard Jomshof wants to see a discussion about arming the personnel who carry out the transports. A “rather rough escalation”, believes Joacim Trybom. – But armed escort for the most sensitive transports would be a sensible solution, I think. The only question is who handles that part – the police, security guards or the Correctional Service? I have no answer to that.
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