From January to June 2025, 2,203 cases of threats and violence against inmates and prison staff were reported around the country's prisons. This is an increase of 60 percent, compared to the same period five years ago.
I think everyone who works with these issues feels a sense of worry, says Joachim Danielsson, who is the chairman of the ST union within the Prison and Probation Service.
He emphasizes that the work environment is crucial for the Prison and Probation Service's mission to prevent recidivism.
It creates conditions for handling difficult situations, but also for changing people.
And what about the current environment in the institutions, doesn't it look like that?
No, it's heading in a different direction.
"Not dimensioned"
Overcrowding threatens safety, according to Danielsson, who describes the prison environment as a concentrate of crime, substance abuse, and mental illness.
Imagine a sewage system that is dimensioned for 1,000 inhabitants, then suddenly it becomes 5,000 or 10,000. Then the system will collapse sooner or later.
Today, two inmates sometimes have to share a cell of six square meters.
If you have trouble accommodating your behaviors and emotions, it won't get better just because it's more crowded.
More risk factors
In investigations, employees, for example, talk about longer response times when the responsibility includes many inmates. It can be a question to the guard about whether there is any mail, or permission to shower.
They are trivial things for someone else. But for an inmate, it's not, and that's something you shouldn't underestimate, says Joachim Danielsson.
It can sometimes be the trigger for very serious events.
"Large unknown number"
The overcrowding in the institutions has also been noticed by many lawyers, says Mia Edwall Insulander, Secretary-General of the Swedish Bar Association, in a comment.
"The crowding can lead to increased tension, which can result in increased threats and violence."
The largest proportion of threats and violence occurs between inmates. There, the figure has increased by 80 percent in five years, to 1,486 in the first half of this year.
Society has, in my opinion, a responsibility to ensure that those who are in prison do not have to be afraid and exposed to violence, says lawyer Johan Eriksson, chairman of the Swedish Bar Association.
He is not surprised by the increase in threats and violence and believes that there is a large unknown number.
Most cases, when it comes to fights between inmates, the Prison and Probation Service is not even aware of.
Ellen Ahinko Andersson/TT
Facts: The situation in the institutions
TT
Over 20,000 people are employed within the Prison and Probation Service in Sweden, most of them are prison officers or probation officers.
In January 2025, there were approximately 7,200 institutional places in the country. Of these, approximately 5,200 were fixed places and approximately 2,000 were standby places.
During 2024, the average occupancy rate in fixed places in institutions was 131 percent, an increase compared to 2023. The largest increase was in the closed institutions with security classes 1 and 2, where the occupancy rate in fixed places increased by 14 percentage points compared to 2023.
The Prison and Probation Service keeps statistics on the number of decisions on misconduct in institutions. During the period January-June 2025, 1,486 cases of violence or threats against fellow inmates and 717 cases of violence or threats against officials were reported. This is an increase compared to the same period in 2020. Then, 821 cases against fellow inmates and 563 cases against staff were reported.
Source: Prison and Probation Service
