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For a long time there has been a limit that those who have been sentenced to prison must present themselves to an institution within a maximum period of 50 days, a few years ago the limit was raised to 75 days and now it is raised to 100 days.
– The reason why we have changed the time limit only has to do with the occupation situation. That we have chosen to increase the limit is of course problematic and something we intend to get away from as soon as possible, but at present we see no alternatives, says Joakim Righammar, section director of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.
More convicts on the streets
This has meant that more convicts than before take to the streets to wait to begin serving their sentences.
Preliminary statistics from the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, which SVT has read, show that the number of convicted prisoners left free in society has risen, the highest record during the period to which the statistics apply, the years 2018 to 2020 was reached in July of this year.
At that time, 2,696 were convicted on bail.
– The situation is serious. Today we have a significantly higher influx of customers than a few years ago. We are building 700 new seats in the last two years, but that is not enough, says Joakim Righammar.
Have time to organize their lives.
The courts have ruled that in these cases it is acceptable for offenders to be out between sentencing and incarceration. But a longer period of release also means a higher risk of new crimes, according to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.
– By increasing this time from 50 to 100 days, the risks naturally also increase, says Joakim Righammar.
The idea of letting a criminal come between them and a prison sentence is that the person should have time to figure things out in their life, like taking time off from work before the prison time begins. But there are cases in which new crimes have been committed in the meantime.
– Any crime is harmful to the judiciary. If it is also a serious crime, a crime against a person, of course it is horrible, says Joakim Righammar.
