Communication through the pipes is internally referred to as "Encro" (after the encrypted app Encrochat) and "Toaluren" within the Prison and Probation Service and among the inmates. However, staff view the phenomenon seriously, which is well-known in several of the country's remand prisons, and describe it as a major judicial security problem that risks destroying police work and undermining trials.
"It's really bad," says Joakim Righammar, unit manager at the Prison and Probation Service's security department, to DN.
According to prison guards and managers, this phenomenon has increased the risk that co-defendants - persons prosecuted in the same case - can coordinate their stories or threaten witnesses. However, the lack of space makes it difficult for the Prison and Probation Service to try to separate co-defendants in different departments and remand prisons, DN has learned.
Many inmates are held with full restrictions while awaiting trial. This means that they are not allowed to have contact with other inmates or with the outside world if there is a risk that evidence will be destroyed or that investigations will be affected.
Communication through the drains has, according to DN's investigation, taken place at the remand prison in Malmö, Helsingborg, Göteborg, Sollentuna, and Kronoberg.
