Sweden’s Prison Shortage Sparks Clash Over Tougher Sentences Between Social Democrats and Moderates

The background is that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service recently said that tougher sentences under the Tidö government (Sweden’s current coalition government) mean a greater need for prison places than it projected last spring.

The Swedish Prison and Probation Service once again notes that there is a shortage of tens of thousands of prison places, says Carvalho.

This is happening at the same time as the UK is being forced to release prisoners because its prisons are overcrowded. This is the direction we are heading if we don’t get this under control.

“Not worth anything”

Carvalho points out that the Riksdag (the Swedish parliament) has decided on far-reaching reforms, such as abolishing the sentence discount for multiple crimes and ending early release after two-thirds of a sentence, even for shorter prison terms. She understands the Swedish Prison and Probation Service to be saying that the consequences could be disastrous if everything is implemented at once.

If you have to take this piece by piece, you have to present new bills, says Carvalho.

This means that we have to start from scratch and that the new sentencing system is worthless.

Abolishing the so-called volume discount was one of the hot issues of the election campaign. The Moderates strongly criticized the Social Democrats for not supporting tougher penalties.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer (M) will appear before the committee on Tuesday, and the director general of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service will appear on Thursday.

“Stacking the deck”

Strömmer accuses the Social Democrats of now trying to stack the deck so that important reforms do not have to be implemented.

The Social Democrats’ first move after the election is to roll back central increases in penalties, he says.

The talk about the Social Democrats being the guarantor of a government that is “tough on crime” was, at best, an election campaign slogan.

Strömmer maintains that the reforms can be implemented if the measures proposed by the Moderates to reduce the shortage of space in prisons are adopted.

He also says that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service has not taken into account the fact that crime is decreasing in its capacity assessment, if the current tough criminal policy is allowed to remain in place.

The Justice Committee also wants the Swedish Prison and Probation Service to report on progress in filling the prison in Tartu, Estonia, with Swedish prisoners.

The director general will also be questioned about the Swedish Prison and Probation Service’s position on placing biological men who have changed their legal gender in women’s institutions.