We have seen in recent years that we have had difficulty meeting the growing number of women within the Prison and Probation Service, says Director-General Martin Holmgren.
Over a period of ten years, the number of women starting to serve a prison sentence has almost doubled: in 2015, there were 556 women, last year 1,079.
It is also increasingly about a new category of female inmates.
What we are seeing now is a growing number of younger women, linked to the gang environment, parts of organized crime, more serious crimes and without the type of problems that many had previously, says Martin Holmgren.
Highest security class
Historically, women's prisons have otherwise been dominated by women with a problematic life of abuse, who have started committing crimes in adulthood. They have often lived in violent relationships, not infrequently with criminal men and then themselves started committing crimes.
The new category of women will now mean that the Prison and Probation Service will create places for women with the highest security level, class one. This will happen in both Tidaholm and Saltvik outside Härnösand. As a provisional solution, some places have already been released on a ward at Kumla.
Risks for the surroundings
This development has not occurred overnight, but has come over time, says Anders Jansson, prison chief in Ystad. And it poses risks for staff and other inmates.
It can be about the ability to continue committing crimes despite being locked up, to resort to violence or put people in their surroundings at risk.
Overall, both the atmosphere and the activities at a women's prison are very similar to the prisons that exist for men. But Anders Jansson sees two major differences:
Women generally have a different perspective on children, it is a different perspective on parenthood.
I have worked at institutions for men as well. What is a bit sad is that men often get visits, but women who are in prison very rarely get visits.
He cannot answer why.
It is some form of stigma perhaps, that comes through.
Cecilia Klintö/TT
Women in prison
TT
Totalt började 3 119 kvinnor att avtjäna någon form av straff år 2024, en ökning med 17 procent jämfört med året före.
becomes
A total of 3,119 women began to serve some form of sentence in 2024, an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year.
rest of the text is
The most common sentence for women is probation, but the largest increase is seen when it comes to prison sentences: 31 percent more women (257 more women) began to serve a prison sentence in 2024 compared to 2023.
Over a period of ten years, the number of women who began to serve prison sentences has increased from 556 women in 2015 to 1,079 women in 2024.
Women accounted for nine percent of those who began to serve a prison sentence last year.
The majority were between the ages of 30-49. Eleven percent lacked Swedish citizenship.
The most common main crime was drug offenses or drug smuggling. Theft was the second most common.
The number of initiated prison sentences with the main crime of violent crime increased from 87 women to 155 between 2023 and 2024.
Women are generally sentenced to shorter prison terms than men, but the sentence length has increased. The average sentence in 2024, excluding life sentences without a sentenced prison term, was 453 days. This is 70 days more than in 2023.
Most common for women was a prison sentence of two months or shorter.
Source: Prison and Probation Service
