It is prohibited to have a personal mobile phone in a correctional facility or in a remand prison, according to the Prison and Probation Service's rules.
Despite the ban, it appears in a report from the authority's security department that the number of mobile finds has increased from 76 units in 2023 to 133 units in 2024 in the country's correctional facilities and remand prisons.
The phones can, according to the Prison and Probation Service, be used for continued crime such as extortion, attempts to influence victims of crime and to plan serious crimes.
We naturally take a very serious view of this type of unauthorized communication, because it is part of our mission to prevent further crime. It is also about the relationship to potential victims of crime and to safeguard the public's trust, says Josefin Skoglund, who is the acting security director at the Prison and Probation Service.
"Easy to hide"
The background to the increase should be set in relation to the increase in the number of prisoners, but can also be explained by the fact that the staff have become better at detecting the mobile phones, according to Skoglund.
That we know hiding places and that we have control over smuggling routes, she says.
The phones are smuggled in via staff, visitors, or convicts on leave. The mobile phones can also be thrown into the correctional facility area.
And it's not big iPhones we're talking about. These mobile phones are incredibly small and are easier to hide, simply, she says.
Left to the police
The same report shows that the prisoners also try to bribe staff to smuggle in mobile phones for payment.
It's very serious. This is a type of improper influence that we work to prevent and, above all, make employees aware of so they know how to handle such a situation, says Josefin Skoglund.
If there is suspicion of a crime, a found mobile phone is handed over to the police for further investigation.
A prisoner serving a conditional prison sentence and who can be linked to a smuggled mobile phone risks serving more days inside the prison instead of outside.
At the end of 2024, there were 42 remand prisons and 46 correctional facilities.
In 2024, the Prison and Probation Service had an average of 7,500 inmates in correctional facilities, 3,500 in remand prisons, and 16,200 on probation.
Over 20,000 people are employed in the correctional service in Sweden, most of them are prison and probation officers or probation inspectors.
Source: The Prison and Probation Service
