Criminal justice issues

Mats Arkhem (SD)

Mr. Speaker! The Swedish people demand, rightly so, a safer Sweden.

Today we are going to debate issues regarding the prison and probation service, and the Prison and Probation Service is an organization that has many so-called challenges. Our detention centers and prisons have a severe overcrowding. We have a prison service that is in crisis mode due to this overcrowding. On average, the overcrowding is at 110 percent in detention centers and 120 percent in prisons. This is negative both for the inmates, or the clients, as the Prison and Probation Service wants to call them, and above all for the staff, the prison officers, and their working environment.

There is a clear majority, both among the population at large and here in the chamber, that there must be longer and more punishments to deal with the very serious, grave crime. If one additionally adds that we get more police who also solve more crimes, one understands that the overcrowding will not resolve itself. On the contrary, according to the Prison and Probation Authority's own forecasts, we need to move from today's approximately 9,000 remand and prison places to 27,000 over the next ten years - a tripling, in other words.

Naturally, crime prevention work aimed at children and young people was needed to give them a meaningful existence, a sense of community, and a will to be a part of society rather than being at war with it – to try to prevent them from being drawn into the destructive world of gang crime. Nothing is naturally so good that it cannot be made even better, but I dare say that a good deal of this crime prevention work is already being done. In comparison with other countries, it is not where we distinguish ourselves in a negative way.

It is rather about society's polarization, segregation, a "us versus them," and a lack of faith in the future. All of this is caused by previous governments' policies, which are unparalleled, and by the left-wing ideology of looking out for the perpetrator's well-being rather than the crime victim's. It is this scenario that is the reason why it is as it is.

More will be prosecuted, and more will sit behind bars for longer periods. Right now, about fifty construction projects are underway that will result in new detention centers and institutions. These will naturally need to be staffed, so the staffing is judged to need to increase by 15,000 employees. This is nearly a doubling compared to today. The community service and the Prison and Probation Service's transport unit also need to be expanded significantly. Collectively, this will cost a lot of money. We are therefore adding 1.4 billion kronor this year so that the Prison and Probation Service's appropriation becomes 16.1 billion.

We also task the Prison and Probation Service to review the daily cost for the detainees. Last year, it was approximately 3,500 kronor per detainee per day in detention centers and 3,800 kronor in prisons, on average. This is higher than in many other European countries.

Approximately one third of those who are held in our facilities are foreign citizens. Therefore, we are looking at the possibilities of renting detention places abroad. It is difficult to see the logic in, for example, a criminal who has served a sentence and is to be deported promptly, sitting in a Swedish, costly prison, if it is possible to find more cost-effective solutions abroad.

Mr. Speaker! The Prison and Probation Service demanded more than the 1.4 billion kronor extra that we are injecting this year; that is true. The problem is that due to previous governments' policies, there are many holes to fill. Resources are lacking in almost all activities: healthcare, schools, defense, customs, infrastructure, to name just a few. Add to that an uneasy world. We have a strained economy. But we still make the assessment that the appropriation will be sufficient to manage the situation during the current year. Already next year, the Prison and Probation Service will be allocated an appropriation of 19.6 billion, compared to this year's 16.1 billion. In 2026, an appropriation of 22.6 billion will be allocated.

At the same time as we are injecting funds, the Prison and Probation Service has, as stated, been tasked with proposing reductions in daily costs, which in the long run will hopefully lead to a cheaper operation.

The economy is still strained, and we are constantly forced to make priorities. In this budget, we have chosen to prioritize welfare through an additional 6 billion kronor. We have also chosen to prioritize the Prison and Probation Service through this investment.

Together with the government, we are carrying out our paradigm shift in the area of crime policy. Slowly but surely, we are making it increasingly difficult to be a criminal in Sweden, through more police officers, safety zones, security cameras, secret preventive measures, abolished youth discounts for those over 18 years old, and so on.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Sanna Backeskog (S)

Mr. Speaker! Swedish criminal justice system has long been an example for other countries thanks to the ability to work based on two important principles: to carry out punishment - that crime victims shall receive redress - and that the time in the institution is used to prevent recidivism, the vision Better out. Here, the Prison and Probation Service has succeeded better than many other countries, with low recidivism rates.

But as a result of a series of increased penalties and an expanded police force with better tools and higher clearance rates, which is of course positive, the Prison and Probation Service, which we know has had a shortage of space for several years, has reached a situation that is now so serious that they have moved to emergency status.

Decisions have previously been made that all living spaces that can be double-occupied shall be double-occupied. Two-thirds of the visitor rooms in institutions in the two highest security classes are converted into living spaces for inmates.

At several institutions, major challenges are now being described regarding the work of preventing recidivism and how clients cannot always be offered meaningful activities to a sufficient extent because more and more people are crowding into ever smaller spaces.

There is a queue for both detention centers and prisons, and many detainees remain in police cells. It is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit staff, and all forecasts show that the shortage of space will worsen.

Mr. Speaker! The Prison and Probation Service has been one of our best-functioning agencies. It has enjoyed high public confidence and has worked systematically with security, work environment, employment, and evidence-based treatment programs. I mean, in other words, that we truly have an agency to be proud of and to fight for, with the goal that the clients should come out better.

The situation now is very worrying. The situation for employees at many facilities is unacceptable. One does not have the time and cannot recruit and train as many as are needed, and a great responsibility is placed on the employees who are more experienced. Both Seko as well as ST and Akavia are alarming about ever more threats and unauthorized influence against employees.

The Prison and Probation Service risks being changed into something that only concerns detention - a penal system and a place where destructive machonorms, anti-democratic views, and radicalization can spread. If the Prison and Probation Service cannot work on preventing criminals from reoffending, Mr. Speaker, we will also not succeed in breaking the gangs and stopping the violence.

Mr. Speaker! I mean that it is impossible and also irresponsible to discuss the Prison and Probation Service's conditions for the future without, in the same breath, discussing the crime prevention work and the work to prevent young people from being socialized or groomed into a criminal lifestyle.

We are all affected by the violence that plagues our societies, harms people and extinguishes lives in a brutal and terrifying spiral of violence. The violence must come to an end. It will take time and require large and expensive efforts. This requires political determination and long-term work extending over several parliamentary terms, but actions are also needed here and now.

Under the previous government, over 80 penalties have been toughened or added. The police have received increased resources, two new police trainings, better tools, and more colleagues. Quite obviously, it has not been enough. Quite obviously, something else was also needed.

We who are in this chamber today know that for every gang criminal who is picked up, there are three young people waiting in line to succeed him. I mean, Mr. Speaker, that we must settle the score for decades of neglect of our welfare and our neglected residential areas.

For the last 20 years, the Riksdag has consisted of a bourgeois majority, and when the Social Democrats in government have tried to move forward with proposals for a strengthened welfare state through a fairer tax policy, the threats of motions of no confidence have come as a surprise. We will never be able to reverse the development without using welfare as a means. We must become much better at preventing violence and crime.

The horrific wave of violence and gang crime is a national, and admittedly also an international, matter. We know that the perpetrators of violence do not act in isolation in their neighborhood or in their municipality. The efforts that the municipalities and regions make today therefore make a great difference for the whole of society. But today, Mr. Speaker, the entire regional and municipal welfare sector is being subjected to a baptism of fire. Employees are on their knees, and municipal and regional politicians across the whole country, regardless of party affiliation, are forced to cut back on teaching assistants, nurses, field assistants, and parental programs. It is unsustainable.

Mr. Speaker! I also want to say something about some of our reservations in the committee report.

Today, children are ruthlessly exploited by criminal gangs, and we are in a situation where children are committing serious violent crimes. We believe that today's defection work must be adapted to this situation. Often, very extensive interventions are required, and special requirements are placed when it concerns children. Therefore, cooperation between all involved actors must function well.

Mr. Speaker! Expanding the Prison and Probation Service based on the Tidö Agreement's proposal takes time, and therefore we believe that the government must provide the long-term conditions required. The Prison and Probation Service has in several reports described the future need for places and what it will mean for the operations. We believe that the government must, first and foremost, produce a proper plan for how the Prison and Probation Service shall manage the upcoming changes.

The Prison and Probation Service carries out successful recidivism prevention work, and it is important that this work can continue. The Prison and Probation Service's goal must continue to be that people do not commit new crimes after serving their sentence. A decisive success factor for this is engaged and well-educated staff, and another success factor is that the program work at the prisons rests on a scientific basis.

Mr. Speaker! I naturally stand behind all our reservations, but I move for approval only of reservation number 13 regarding a plan for the Prison and Probation Service.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, my mother sent me a bunch of photos of me as a child a few weeks ago. Several of the pictures showed me together with my wonderful grandmother, and when I looked at them, I was struck by my grandmother's warm smile and gaze when she looked at me. I think particularly of a photo where we are eating buns and toasting with juice.

I am completely convinced that my grandmother's and mother's unconditional love and faith in me, together with clear boundaries - mostly from mother, not so much from grandmother - and positive expectations with guidance into adulthood have been my most important protective factor against mental and physical ill health and for me to be able to shape a secure and sensible adult life.

The fact is, however, Mr. Speaker, that not all children and young people have a grandmother Gertrud in their lives. When Carina Ohlsson speaks about her investigation For barn och unga i samhällsvård, she describes many conversations with many children and young people who say that in their lives there has never been a single adult who liked them.

Many of the children and young people who choose or are drawn into a gang criminal lifestyle have the same experiences of standing alone. Then it is too late. Then we as a society have a responsibility to react because criminal acts need to have consequences, because crime victims have a right to redress, and because we must protect society from more crimes.

But surely, Mr. Speaker, it would have been better, in every single respect, if the people we are talking about in the report had had a safe adult to eat buns and toast with juice with in their youth.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Mikael Damsgaard (M)

Mr. Speaker! The Government has now launched the largest offensive against crime in modern Sweden's history. It is about tightening individual penalties but also about a complete review of the entire penal code. To succeed, the preventive work needs to be strengthened, but we also need to target the criminal economy. The Government's work against serious organized crime thus stands on three legs.

We are shifting the focus from the perpetrator to the crime victim. The sentences must reflect the severity of the crimes. The government intends to introduce double sentences for crimes committed in gang criminal environments. Today's form of bulk discount shall be abolished and the rules on parole shall be tightened.

The prison sentence aims to provide the crime victim with redress and to give the perpetrator the opportunity to re-enter open society as a law-abiding resident after the sentence. But the prison sentence also aims, not least, to protect society from the perpetrator. To manage all of this, the correctional services need to be expanded significantly.

As the person responsible for correctional services issues for the Moderaterna in the Committee on Justice, it is an important part to visit the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's operations. I am impressed by much of the activity that is carried out and not least by the commitment and professionalism I encounter among the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's employees.

In the budget proposal for 2024, the government plans to increase the Kriminalvården's budget by 8 billion kronor from 2023 to 2026. In the budget for 2024, 800 million of the budget increase was specifically investments in the staff to increase Kriminalvården's attractiveness, which has resulted in specific wage increases within Kriminalvården during the current year.

The budget allocations correspond to an increase in the budget of 60 percent over three years. But since the number of those remanded in custody and convicted has increased faster than expected, the Prison and Probation Service also receives a resource reinforcement of 1.4 billion kronor during the current year to accelerate the work of increasing the number of places in prisons and detention centers.

On the government's assignment, the Prison and Probation Service has reported what capacity is needed in institutions, detention centers, and probation for the Tidö Agreement's proposed reforms to be implemented. The Prison and Probation Service's main scenario is that in 2033 there will be 27,000 detainees in detention centers and institutions, compared to 9,000 today. The assessments are, however, subject to great uncertainty because they can vary depending on the outcome of the investigation and legislative work currently underway, as well as the courts' future application of new legislation. The major criminal law investigation that is fundamental to this will submit its report next summer.

To state the obvious: The number of detainees is also by its nature dependent on the development of crime. The government's offensive against crime is fundamentally about Sweden becoming a safer and more secure country. Even if it is difficult today to assess the exact number of detainees in prisons and detention centers in ten years, it is obvious that a powerful expansion of the criminal justice system will be required.

Everyone easily realizes the magnitude of this challenge. It is naturally about the physical expansion itself, but also about the correctional service's competence supply. But the fact that it is difficult does not change the fact that it is necessary. Sweden needs a paradigm shift in justice policy, and it will require more places in detention centers and institutions.

Today we are dealing with a committee report where motions regarding criminal justice from the general motion period are being addressed. In many of the motions, wise points are presented that it is possible to feel sympathy for. The committee's majority proposes, however, that all motions be rejected, in most cases because there are already announcements from previous parliamentary years, because work is ongoing in the Government Offices, or because assignments have been given to authorities or investigations.

In my speech, I particularly want to comment on two of the reservations.

In reservation 2 of the Socialdemokraterna, Centerpartiet and Miljöpartiet, a strengthened agency cooperation in the recidivism prevention work is proposed. Persons who repeatedly commit crimes account for a very large part of the total crime in Sweden. An effective recidivism prevention work can therefore yield great gains both for the individual and for society. One of the correctional services' fundamental tasks is to work to ensure that recidivism is prevented, among other things by cooperating with other actors in society.

At the same time, we must not be naive. The large number of inmates with links to criminal networks also creates new, significantly more difficult conditions for the work of preventing recidivism at our institutions. I can truly emphasize the need for strengthened agency cooperation. It was among other reasons against that background that the government, a year ago, reworked the directives to the parliamentary Security Preparedness Board and directed the investigation towards the work of preventing recidivism.

The mandate of the Safety Commission is to map out which competencies are currently involved in the work of preventing recidivism, to analyze how involved actors can more effectively and efficiently contribute jointly to reducing recidivism, and to submit proposals on how the work of preventing recidivism can be developed. The investigation shall be submitted to the government on 30 August.

The government has thus already noted the deficiencies regarding cooperation between different actors in the work to prevent recidivism, and I look forward very much to taking part in the results of the Safety Commission's work. But it is also not possible to ignore the complacent way we in Sweden have handled persons who repeatedly relapse into crime. An important part of the ongoing criminal law investigation is therefore that recidivism shall, more than today, have a toughening effect in the sentencing. In plain terms: Those who relapse into crime will receive more tangible penalties.

I reservation 13, the Socialdemokraterna want the government to produce a plan for the expansion of the correctional services. It is a proposal that is typical for a Social Democratic party in the absence of its own sharp political proposals. To begin with, it is worth pointing out that the shortage of space currently existing in the correctional services is not an effect of the Moderate-led government's policy, but an effect of the expansion not being seriously initiated during the eight years that Sweden had a Social Democratic Minister of Justice.

From the Social Democrats' reservation, it may appear as if there are no plans for the expansion. Fundamentally, the Prison and Probation Service's planning occurs in an interaction between the agency and the government. The Prison and Probation Service produces an annual capacity report which forms the basis for the agency's budget proposal to the government. The government has also specifically tasked the Prison and Probation Service to take into account the effects of the reforms signaled in the Tidö Agreement.

The government took a provision in the Kriminalvården budget for a massive expansion, and based on that, the agency plans its capacity. Which and where new institutions and prisons shall be built, where it is possible to densify, and many other related issues, we believe are best suited for Kriminalvården to decide on itself.

I want to assert that the challenge with an expansion of the correctional services does not primarily lie in a lack of plans, but in obtaining enough capacity to keep pace with the law enforcement agencies when they succeed in prosecuting more.

Mr. Speaker! Overall, the pace of reform is very high at the Ministry of Justice, and so it will be during the remainder of the mandate period. The effects on the Prison and Probation Service's operations will come successively as various reforms are launched and take effect. The Prison and Probation Service and its employees will have a demanding time ahead of them, but it is an effect of a necessary reorganization of the criminal justice policy, Mr. Speaker.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Gudrun Nordborg (V)

Mr. Speaker! I begin by stating that Vänsterpartiet naturally stands behind all its reservations in this matter regarding the Prison and Probation Service. I move, however, for approval only of reservation 15, which concerns a broad review of the Prison and Probation Service's organization and operations.

The Prison and Probation Service is in crisis. It is obvious to very many. But it is one of several serious crises in our society, and they are interconnected. We have a crisis in welfare, where healthcare and the municipalities are underfunded, which creates a betrayal of those in our country who have the greatest need for interventions, support, and continuous operations.

I also want to assert that we have a crisis in politics, with broken promises, cheating, and cronyism also among leading politicians. Does anyone believe that these things do not go together – that they do not create mistrust and growing class divides that become breeding grounds for increasingly grave crime?

We have a crisis in the correctional services. Increased sentencing and new criminalizations have contributed to it. Many believe that this is the solution for how we should prevent crime. But the important preventive work does not take place within the correctional services but in society at large. Important things can, however, also be done within the correctional services.

Something that is a fact now is very sharp overcrowding which creates a series of additional problems. The double occupancy is still planned for, also in new constructions. Stress, threats, and violence affect both the inmates and the staff.

More and more of the employees are facing the consequences of this and quitting, while the number of detainees is increasing sharply. It creates an imbalance in many ways. The proportion of correctional officers leaving their jobs has increased to 20 percent, according to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's annual report. That is every fifth employee. The daily mission to act is thus facing worsened conditions. It is therefore not enough to be able to recruit new staff, but even that is difficult. Several of the newly hired also quit after a short time because they do not see any support for how they should run the operations and practice their profession in a reasonable way. The imbalance means that the proportion of experienced colleagues who can be a strength and backbone in the operations is decreasing.

For the staff, it is also the case that client-facing solitary work is common. Everyone understands that there are therefore risks of increased threats and violence and that it can have serious consequences. Many point out that we are waiting for a catastrophe. It is also the case that the challenges in the work increase when detainees, due to the lack of space, are placed in a lower security classification than would normally have been the case.

This was something about the employees' situation and challenges.

For those detained, there is naturally also a great risk of increased conflict and violence. The operations are faltering. At least we in the Left Party believe that the correctional services should focus on care and rehabilitation and increase resources, so that one does not return to a life of crime after release. But what about the operations? Well, education in the facilities covers only about 10 percent of the time for those detained.

At an expert meeting in the Trygghetsberedningen, which has been mentioned, it emerged from Arbetsförmedlingen that the correctional services only have 650 places for simpler vocational training that require physical presence - one might train in wood, to become a cook or similar. Here, they have tried to prioritize occupations that are in demand in society and could serve as a bridge out. But the systems are so complicated that they do not even manage to fill these places. People move and so on. The lack of places is also a cause. It is not always the case that one even has premises for either training or more treatment-oriented activities.

It is also the case that the social marginalization and the lack of contact with relatives have a negative impact on those detained. The visiting rooms are being converted into residential rooms, and the visits are becoming fewer.

The unions also point out that there is an imbalance - investment is being made in services at the headquarters instead of on the employees. There is too much administration, and one is working against a culture of silence.

There are, however, proposals aimed at developing the correctional services in a reasonable way even amidst the current challenges. Vänsterpartiet points out that one can increase the possibility of parole while simultaneously tightening the control and support measures for those who may be released from prison somewhat early, provided that it can be arranged in a reasonable and safe way, so that an ankle bracelet can be perceived as secure enough.

One could also replace prison sentences for shorter terms. Then we are not talking about the gang criminals, but about those who have a short prison sentence, perhaps of six months or less. They could serve the sentence with an ankle bracelet out in the community if they otherwise have reasonable conditions and the risk of recidivism is not so great.

We in Vänsterpartiet have visited establishments called halfway houses. There, one can stay under safe conditions during a conditional release. They are often run by non-profit organizations. One has housing, and it is arranged so that one has some form of employment. One is allowed to leave the halfway house and then come back under safe conditions, and one has continued opportunities for interventions in important cooperation with several of society's organizations.

I want to conclude by marking that I am deeply concerned about what is happening within the correctional services. Today, it is primarily about detention, not about care and treatment. The most important preventive measures absolutely take place within the other sectors of society. We must invest in a broad and secure welfare for all.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Ingemar Kihlström (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I would like to begin by moving for approval of the committee's proposal for a decision and rejection of all motions within the area of criminal justice.

We in Sweden still face serious problems, as the activities of organized crime still manifest in many different ways in our society. It is worrying that the serious crime through various acts of violence is often committed by younger perpetrators.

The criminal networks have a very large amount of violence capital. This violence is carried out in different places and in different contexts in our society, often with indifference toward who is affected. This entails great risks that innocent people will be affected.

At the same time, an extensive criminal economy is ongoing. Estimates exist that it could involve 100-150 billion per year. It concerns drug sales, fraud against the elderly and other serious crime, but the crime can also involve infiltration and influence in both private and public activities.

It is therefore a continued priority for us in the Riksdag and for the government to restore safety in Sweden.

To meet this development, crime fighting needs to be developed. Naturally, crime clearance also needs to be improved. But it is also about toughening the penalties, so that they better reflect the seriousness of the crimes. It is about reviewing today's rules for quantity discounts and conditional release. These changes will lead to more people being prosecuted for their crimes and also being sentenced to prison, in many cases with a longer prison sentence.

The Prison and Probation Service will thus receive an expanded task, and a greater need for prison places needs to be met. It is therefore central to give the Prison and Probation Service the right conditions to fulfill its important mission.

Mr. Speaker! It is a reality that the expansion of the correctional services began far too late. We must now manage to do two things simultaneously, both push back the criminals and expand the correctional services significantly. The lack of space is a major problem for the justice system. The situation today is severely strained with significant overcrowding, and there are examples of criminals committing new crimes while waiting for a prison place or when they have been released prematurely. This contributes to increased crime and the risk of recidivism and also sends a signal that the justice system is not functioning as it should.

The great shortage of places also hinders the important recidivism prevention rehabilitation work. Important programs such as the twelve-step program and the monastery in Kumla, both of which have shown good results, have been discontinued, according to some information related to the shortage of places.

The government is making major investments, but it will take time to make up for the shortage of prison places that the previous government did not prioritize for eight years. But with a policy that is offensive and persistent, it is possible to turn the development around.

Mr. Speaker! To date, several concrete measures have been implemented. The autumn budget bill shows that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's appropriations will increase by over 60 percent in the coming years. Since the change of government, decisions have been made regarding over 1,700 new places, and around the country, about fifty construction projects are currently underway that will become new detention centers and prisons.

The government early on tasked the Prison and Probation Service with calculating what the reforms in the Tidö Agreement will entail, and based on that calculation, the agency received a further assignment to produce a new expansion plan extending until 2033. The Prison and Probation Service's capacity report indicates great needs for the upcoming ten-year period regarding both recruitment and expansion of capacity. To give the Prison and Probation Service the conditions to meet these needs is a prioritized political task moving forward.

Mr. Speaker! The correctional services are at the same time so much more than just the number of places in prisons and detention centers. The time in the correctional services must also, for every individual placed there, become a time when a criminal path can be broken and when the convicted person receives support and motivation to change and leave a criminal life choice.

The time during which the sentence is served shall be used in a meaningful way. If the inmates are alcohol- or drug-dependent – today approximately 70 percent of the inmates have drug-related addictions – these addictions must be broken through targeted programs, and the facilities must, naturally, be kept drug-free.

In order for the inmate to have the opportunity to find a new path in life, education and work training must be offered. Even the release must be prepared well in advance. For us Christian Democrats, the resources that civil society can offer in the form of interventions and support both during and after a prison stay are also important. Since it is a fact that a human does not live by bread alone, the possibility for spiritual care and activity should also exist as a support to break a destructive life choice. To avoid recidivism, the released person should receive help to secure housing, work, or another type of meaningful occupation, and it is important that the social network is strengthened.

Initiatives in the correctional services must be multifaceted and seen as a means and a direction to break and reduce crime in the future.

Mr. Speaker! As I have explained, the announced criminal justice policy in the Tidö Agreement entails a significant expansion of the number of remand and prison places. This leads to increased costs in both the short and long term. In the budget amendment that was just presented, the government and Sverigedemokraterna propose that the Kriminalvårdens appropriation be increased by 1.38 billion already in the current year. This is to create further opportunities to meet the acute need for more prison places.

Mr. Speaker! Other measures are also in process. To facilitate new construction, an investigator has been tasked with reviewing planning and building regulations in order to simplify the construction processes. But it is not enough to only expand the correctional services here at home. The shortage of space is so acute that we also need to rent places abroad. The Christian Democrats opened up already in 2019 for renting prison places abroad, and the government is now working on the issue. An investigator shall continuously present proposals for various solutions with places in another country.

It is also important that foreign citizens serve their sentence in their home country to a greater extent. Today, approximately 30 percent of those detained in Swedish prisons are citizens of other countries. Sweden should therefore prioritize entering into agreements with other countries that ensure that their citizens serve their sentence in their home country. This is necessary to relieve the correctional services both in terms of capacity and cost.

The challenges of the Prison and Probation Service have not arisen overnight, and it will take time to catch up. But with a policy that is both offensive and persistent, it is possible to reverse the development and ensure the growth and development of the Prison and Probation Service.

Mr. Speaker! Today's debate demonstrates the need for further activity regarding the lack of space in today's institutions and the importance of the correctional services continuing to focus on breaking a destructive lifestyle and drug addiction. It is an important political task for all of us, and the government will continue to prioritize these issues.

As I said initially, I move for approval of the committee's proposal and thus rejection of all motion proposals.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Ulrika Liljeberg (C)

Mr. Speaker! When the correctional services take over in the judicial chain, it is after a judgment has gained legal force. The crime-preventive work has failed, but the law-enforcement work has succeeded. Police and prosecutors have presented the evidence that exists to Sweden's courts, witnesses have testified, and crime victims have been heard. Now a new phase begins for all involved. It is, however, important to maintain a continued focus on crime victims and the plaintiff. They need to continue to be met with respect and receive the information they desire and need from the correctional services.

After the judgment, the correctional services and society begin their recidivism prevention work with the convicted person. Regardless of whether it concerns short or long prison sentences, the goal should be that the punishment marks the end of the convicted person's criminal path. But the picture that the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's annual report for 2023 gives does not indicate the best conditions for this: high occupancy rates, several threat and violence incidents, and an increased number of isolation measures. Furthermore, many remain in detention far too long.

The Center Party has in recent years been involved in pushing for a tough line against serious organized crime. As part of this work, many sentences have been increased, and more are on the way. This development truly puts the correctional services' operations to the test. Overcrowded institutions are a problem. The expansion of institutions should have started earlier and been pushed forward much more forcefully than what has occurred until now.

It will require a lot from the current management and employees as well as from all those who are to be recruited now. Therefore, it is important that the expansion occurs with high integrity and great precision to ensure that the risk of threats, violence, infiltration, corruption, and unauthorized influence does not increase. The lack of space must never be a reason to compromise the safety of employees and detainees or the quality of the care that the criminal justice system is to provide.

Mr. Speaker! As a society, we need to make the thresholds for young people into crime high, but the thresholds out low. When the motivation is there, we must be there. Anything else would be a loss for society, for presumptive crime victims, and for the individual.

Today, children are ruthlessly exploited by criminal gangs, and we are in a situation where children commit acts of gross violence. There must therefore be national defector programs for children and young people, just as for adults, because children and young people have specific needs, rights, and obligations that differ from those of adults. This means that methods developed for adult defectors are not necessarily as effective and applicable to minors.

Furthermore, there is a lack of sufficient knowledge about young gang criminals in municipalities, within authorities, and in civil society. A national program with proven methods and better resources can address this. The government is doing some, but needs to take further measures in this acute situation.

The defector activity is, however, underfunded and needs to be strengthened and receive more support from both the police and other authorities. There are state funds. But they ran out during 2023, and the government has not provided any major budget for 2024. The Center Party wants to see a doubling of the police's budget for the defector activity with 75 million kronor and will propose it later in our spring budget amendment.

The Prison and Probation Service has an important role in also preventing recidivism. Many have said this, and it is worth repeating. This work needs to aim at strengthening the inmates' opportunities to be channeled into the labor market in a better way. Therefore, the Center Party here in the Riksdag has submitted a motion that cooperation between the Prison and Probation Service and social services needs to be improved regarding interventions in connection with release. Prisons must not become a further education in or recruitment to more serious crimes and a time that takes a person further from an honest life than the opposite.

Centerpartiet considers, in view of the situation within the correctional services, that the possibility of sentencing to combined penalties in more cases should be investigated. Today, for example, supervised probation or a suspended sentence can be combined with a prison sentence to replace a prison sentence of up to one year. This possibility is primarily used for youths but should be able to be broadened and used also in other cases.

To meet the need for more places in institutions and in detention centers, the Center Party also considers that the possibility of using electronic intensive surveillance, ankle bracelets, as an alternative to execution in an institution should be reviewed in more cases. Sweden has a relatively long experience of ankle bracelets, which were introduced in 1994, within the criminal justice system. The experiences are positive, and the evaluations have shown that it works well. This should be able to be used in more cases than today, not at all for serious organized crime but when it concerns less serious crime where shorter prison sentences are handed down.

I would like to conclude by addressing the claim by the Sverigedemokraterna member Arkhem regarding the need to rent prison places abroad on the grounds that persons are to be deported to another country after serving a sentence. I would like to remind here that the legislation already exists and that we in Centerpartiet and many others stand behind it when it occurs at the final stage of the penalty and to the country to which one is to be deported. It is good and reasonable. On the other hand, we remain critical of generally letting other countries execute Swedish sentences after Swedish judgments.

In conclusion, I support all of the Center Party's reservations but, for the sake of time, I move for approval of only reservation 10 regarding defection activities for young people.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Martin Melin (L)

Mr. Speaker! Swedish criminal justice has been neglected for many years. I am not usually among those who tend to point out the Social Democrats' failure during the eight years they held government power. It is easy to do so, but at the same time, we do not know if a bourgeois government would have done the job better. There have indeed been failures even under previous bourgeois governments in various areas, so I think one should be a bit cautious with one's criticism. But it is still not possible to turn a blind eye to the fact that during the last ten years, those who have ruled politically have not understood the development that so many raised a warning finger for, namely the increased crime and with it an increased number of those arrested, remanded in custody, and detained - and with that an increased need for more remand centers and more prisons. They did not see it coming, and they did not act.

I know that when one brings up failures of the Social Democrats, it is usually contrasted with the fact that they have done a lot of other things. They have increased penalties, tightened laws, and added more funds here and there. But the fact remains: There are too few institutions and too few places in arrest centers, remand prisons, and prisons. And it is not possible to turn a blind eye to that, no matter how much one squeezes one's eyes shut.

Mr. Speaker! I must nevertheless take the opportunity here to just as a small parenthesis mention that the Liberals' current party leader, Johan Pehrson, already in 2005 waved his arms and flagged that more prisons must begin to be built in Sweden. But no one listened to Johan Pehrson in 2005. Now, however, we are where we are, and let us not get stuck on whose fault it is but simply state that this has been handled poorly.

The fact is that the Prison and Probation Service is now facing challenges, as it is usually called. One does the best one can with the resources one has and with the premises one has at one's disposal. One juggles with the knees and squeezes in the detainees where there is space. Then it becomes crowded, and the environment for the detainees and the working environment for those who work becomes worse. In the long run, it is not good for anyone. Today, it is a matter of that approximately 35 places are missing every week, places that the Prison and Probation Service must find or create in some way.

There is, however, something positive to say about the situation as well. It is that we actually now have a government that is on its toes, which sees the problem with overcrowding and is doing something about it. The number of prison places shall increase from 9,000 to nearly 30,000 over ten years. More prisons and more detention centers shall be built. This will place great demands on the Prison and Probation Service. Not least, they must succeed in recruiting more staff, good staff, both to the prisons and also to the probation services, which are easily forgotten in the debate. It will also cost a lot of money.

Mr. Speaker! In addition to ensuring that the inmates stay behind the walls, the Prison and Probation Service also has an important mission to reduce the risk of the inmates re-offending once they find themselves outside the walls. The work of preventing recidivism is something that different governments have worked on over the years. It has been investigated, new directives have been issued, and it has been investigated again. Even today, there is an investigation regarding this, and I actually have some good hope for the current investigation, the Trygghetsberedningen. I believe that it will be able to present both good and feasible measures.

Something that is important to be able to have a successful release for the inmate and a good adaptation to life after serving a sentence is, on the one hand, that there are meaningful activities inside the institution, not least studies, and on the other hand, that there is an opportunity for work for the inmate when they come out. It is therefore important that both Arbetsförmedlingen as well as the school and social services are involved and catch the one who is finishing a sentence, even during the so-called transition period, i.e., the time before release. I am therefore pleased when I hear that the cooperation between Kriminalvården and Arbetsförmedlingen is constantly being developed and becoming better. But even there, there are now challenges, because more and more inmates must be moved and relocated due to internal conflicts.

Back to the problems with overcrowding and cramped conditions. It is interesting that when things go well for the police and prosecutors, when more people are arrested, more are remanded in custody and more are prosecuted, and when sentences become longer and volume discounts are a thing of the past, it becomes crowded in the police cells and remand centers and full in the correctional facilities. And this has happened quickly. The government's crackdown in recent years against crime, not least organized crime, has yielded results thanks to effective tools. When it concerns firearms offenses, for example, the clearance rate today has increased from approximately 15 percent to 75 percent in Stockholm and to 85 percent in Uppsala. With such results, the remand centers are filled.

But the government is, as I said before, on its toes. More money is now being allocated to the Prison and Probation Service. In the supplementary budget this week, we heard that it concerns 1.4 billion more just this year. But much more money will be needed, and not just during this mandate period but probably also during the next two or perhaps even three mandate periods. I do not believe the wave of violence is over, and now that even the police are receiving additional staff, the number of arrests will hardly decrease. The Prison and Probation Service also forecasts a substantial increase, not least in the number of those in custody. The forecasts show quite steep upward curves in the coming years.

In conclusion: Neither the police profession nor jobs within the criminal justice system will be professions where one risks dismissal due to a lack of work, but on the contrary – unfortunately.

Criminal justice issues

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 24 April.)

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