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The congestion in Swedish institutions and prisons it continues to rise as more and more people are arrested and serve longer sentences. Earlier this year, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service estimated that the need for more places will increase by 2,000 over the next ten years. Now the authority announces that there are many indications that this forecast will crack.
– The forecast is still correct, but at the same time we have indications that it may need to be revised, says Chief of Staff Joakim Righammar, referring to the various tightening with extended prison sentences that are expected to come.
Due to the acute shortage of places, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service became operational in September. Today there are a total of 4,920 places available, of which 4,916 are currently used, but the need for places for inmates looks different and the greatest shortage is in the pavilions with the highest security classification, class 1 and 2 for mens. In class 1, the highest degree of security, it has an occupancy rate of almost 120 percent, well above the 90 percent target of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.
Densification reaches the ceiling
New institutions are expected to be built, but as it takes several years for them to be ready, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service has increasingly turned to emergency solutions. Bunk beds were initially installed in inmates’ cells, and 562 emergency rooms of this type were used in November. But now densification is beginning to reach its limit, announces the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, and thus barracks, or so-called modular houses, are being built to solve the situation.
– Barracks are a much better solution than placing two people in each cell, says Tomas Kvarnrud, Rödjan’s prison inspector in Mariestad.
Modular houses are now being installed at record speed inside the fences in several different open institutions in Sweden. In this way, another 187 places are created and it is welcomed by the jailers. At Rödjan in Mariestad, another 43 places will be available from February, thanks to the modular houses that will be standing for at least 5 years.
