Many citizens would be surprised if they knew that it is not criminalized to escape from, for example, a prison sentence, says Adam Marttinen (SD), member of the Riksdag's Justice Committee.
The government is submitting a legislative proposal to criminalize escapes, even though an investigator last year considered it inappropriate.
There must be a reaction from society that reflects the seriousness of escaping, says Marttinen.
If they know that there will be a criminal penalty, they might weigh that in their assessment of whether it's worth escaping or not.
Also custody
The criminalization will apply to escapes from prisons, detention centers, immigration detention centers and special youth homes, if the young people there are sentenced to closed youth care due to a crime. However, the idea is that from next summer they will be placed in new youth prisons under the auspices of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service.
The penalty for escape shall be imprisonment for a maximum of two years, or a maximum of four years if the crime is considered serious. The length of the sentence will be determined based on how the escape is carried out.
The government also proposes that the courts be given greater opportunities to impose harsher sentences in cases of repeat offenses.
Protect society
Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M) points out that in order to protect society it is "extremely important" that dangerous criminals are locked up for a longer period of time.
A further bill is that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service must always take into account inmates' connections to gang crime when determining conditions for leave. In such cases, leave may only be granted after at least a quarter of the sentence has been served in prison.
Upon conditional release or probation, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service must always consider whether inmates who have gang connections should be issued with a residence ban, that is, prohibited from staying in a certain place or in a certain area.
The proposals are proposed to enter into force on July 2, 2026.
