Response to interpellation 2025/26:557 on sexual assault in the criminal justice system
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 M argues that the correctional services must be a safe place and that the government's reorganization of crime policy leads to more and longer prison sentences 1. M considers double-housing to be a well-balanced tool that can be adapted in newly built premises to reduce friction in common areas 1 2 and that record investments are being made in expansion to ease the pressure 1. M confirms that the Correctional Services takes the issue of sexual abuse most seriously 2 and is confident that the result will be to the benefit of the agency, the employees, and the inmates 2.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Samuel Gonzalez Westling has asked me what knowledge I have regarding the extent of the increasing sexual violence within the criminal justice system, when I became aware of the problem, and what measures I intend to take so that the overcrowding within the criminal justice system does not lead to sexual abuse and other violence between the inmates.
The occupancy situation within the correctional services is very strained. This, of course, has several causes. One completely decisive cause is that the expansion of the authority began far too late, which in turn is due to incorrect prioritizations and missing decisions from previous Social Democratic governments, which rested on the support of, among others, Vänsterpartiet. At the same time, the government's reorganization of the justice policy means that more people will be imprisoned, and furthermore for longer periods than today.
The Government and the Prison and Probation Service are working intensively and purposefully to resolve the strained occupancy situation and to create good conditions for a comprehensive expansion, which, of course, shall be characterized by high security and effective efforts regarding the work on preventing recidivism. Between 2023 and 2028, the Prison and Probation Service's appropriation is estimated to increase by 123 percent, from 14.1 to 31.5 billion kronor. During the mandate period, the Government has made decisions on rental agreements covering more than 6,300 places, which corresponds to almost nine Kumla prisons.
Double-bedding is one of several tools that the Prison and Probation Service uses to manage the strained situation. When new construction is undertaken, double-bedding is a starting point, which means that premises can be adapted for more clients and thus become more purposeful, secure, and safe. According to the Prison and Probation Service, double-bedding in itself has not led to any increase in violence between inmates. On the other hand, the increased overcrowding has had a negative impact on the situation otherwise for both inmates and staff.
Violence, threats, and sexual assault of course have no place in the correctional services, and I take all reports of such crime most seriously. The issue was also raised during the summer at a meeting between the Ministry of Justice and the Swedish Prison and Probation Service. The agency then accounted for its routines regarding suspicions of crime between inmates, particularly suspicions of sexual assault.
The Prison and Probation Service is now underway with an analysis of the extent of sexual abuse between inmates, which risk factors lie behind it, and what additional preventive measures are possible to take. The analysis shall be completed by October 31 this year at the latest. I am, of course, following that work very closely and will take part in the results of the analysis with great interest.
Since the interpellor reported that he was prevented from attending the meeting, the second deputy speaker granted that Gudrun Nordborg (V) instead was allowed to participate in the interpellation debate.
Gudrun Nordborg (V)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for Justice for the answer. However, it was not as comprehensive as I had hoped. But I am nevertheless convinced that we both have the ambition that violence and sexual assault should not occur – preferably not anywhere in society and perhaps least of all in these institutions and facilities, where the state has responsibility for people who have been confined within the frames.
We have long known that abuses have occurred within the correctional services. What has prompted this interpellation includes, among other things, alarms from the media; it has been noted that abuses also occur due to double-housing. We know that double-housing is what most often occurs in the correctional services. It is even what one builds for when expanding significantly and trying to accommodate all the new large groups of prisoners.
Even though the ambition from the Minister and those responsible in the Prison and Probation Service is to reduce this, the interpellation answer raises a lot of questions – it is actually not particularly reassuring.
It is noted in the response that an effective recidivism prevention activity is being conducted. But on the news today, we could hear that for as many as half of those detained, they do not manage to establish execution plans in time. Still, the time period is quite long: 30–60 days. There, I believe we have a gap in the system.
I have also made visits to prisons where both the inmates and the staff claim that there is not enough space for recidivism prevention activities. It is not always even the case that there are premises for recidivism prevention training, conversations, or treatments. We also know that several well-known therapies are no longer carried out within the correctional services. Instead, one has to wait until one has left the prison. This too is something that creates friction and irritations and can degenerate into violence.
So, the ambitions are there. But is it possible to realize them when there is a shortage of local housing and the staff are very often newly hired and inexperienced?
In the answer, the Minister claims that the double-layering is expedient. Then I ask myself: For whom? Are they expedient for those detained? Or do they occur for blatant economic reasons so that one can at all accommodate the large groups of prisoners expected due to the criminal justice reform?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I thank Gudrun Nordborg for the opportunity to discuss this important issue today.
I will begin with security. There is no doubt whatsoever that the correctional services must be a safe place, both for those who work there and for those who are detained. What constitutes the punishment is the deprivation of liberty, and it is of course not to be understood that one is subjected to abuse during the time one is locked up in the correctional services. That is a self-evident starting point. That was also why we took these tasks very seriously. If I am not mistaken, it was Sekotidningen that during the spring conducted this review of sexual abuse.
It was also a slightly new aspect of the double-housing that came up. I believe that the Prison and Probation Service still means that the friction caused by the double-housing is not primarily related to what happens in the cells, but rather that there are twice as many people in the common areas that were intended for smaller groups. It is primarily there that a lot of friction arises.
It was in that respect that I used the word "expedient". When we now build new and assume that there will be double-layer flooring, it is clear that the premises can be adapted to that prerequisite. The friction arises largely in old premises intended for smaller groups. When one builds new, one can remove that friction and build in a much more expedient way.
Of course, it is clear that there is an efficiency aspect. For a long series of different reasons, we need more prison places. One such reason is, of course, that we are tightening the sentences so that they will become more just, provide better redress for crime victims, and protect society against serious crime. It is also the case that the development of society with serious crime means that there are people who commit such serious crimes that they will be imprisoned for a longer period. Furthermore, the police have become much better at solving the serious crimes, which is fundamentally very pleasing news. This also creates a pressure on the correctional services.
Regarding double-housing, I think we have found a sensible and well-balanced way to work. To sharpen it a bit, I can say that previous governments' expansion of the correctional services meant that they did not build new but instead opened up for double-housing. We are now doing both. We work with double-housing but are also investing record amounts in expansion. In that way, we relieve the pressure and create good conditions for inmates to spend a safe time at the institution. We also create a better working environment and better conditions for employees to carry out meaningful recidivism prevention work.
We also do other things. We are, for example, reviewing the prison legislation and the detention legislation in order to be able to create even greater flexibility. We have a mandate to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården) that aims at these issues. We are undoubtedly coming from a strained situation, and we are in a strained situation. If one thinks away the enormous investments we are now making in Kriminalvården, we would be in a hopeless situation, and that is truly not the case.
I nevertheless look towards the future with confidence. But there is no doubt that in every situation we must take the issue of security and safety with the utmost seriousness. We are doing that now by having the Prison and Probation Service tasked with getting to the bottom of the issue of the sexual assaults. I look forward to taking part in the evaluation or the result of that analysis at the end of October.
Gudrun Nordborg (V)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the clarifications! I realize very well that if it is crowded in public spaces, regardless of which premises they may be, it can cause friction and irritation resulting in unpleasant actions, unfortunately including violence. But the assaults that have received great attention are those that have occurred in the locked rooms, where one inmate commits an assault on another inmate.
The question is: How can this be slowed down, and what opportunities are there to raise the alarm? I believe these are even more serious situations than those involving crowding in public areas where there might be both other inmates and staff who can intervene faster than what is possible, for example, at night in a locked cell.
It also emerged in the response that the Prison and Probation Service has routines. I am a bit curious about that. What routines are there to try to address situations where abuse of various kinds is suspected? It is apparently something that exists already now.
Then, thank goodness, one wants to proceed with trying to analyze how extensive the problems are. One shall also map out both risk factors and possible preventive measures. That sounds wise, but it also seems belated. These problems are not entirely new. Problems have also existed prior to the overcrowding, and abuse has existed at our institutions.
I have a supplementary question that was not included in my party colleague's text of questions to the minister. It is a question that I am convinced we are both keen to monitor. What is the Prison and Probation Service doing for those people who have been subjected to abuse? How do you provide them with continued protection, and how do you provide them with therapeutic treatment?
We know that sexual assault is among the most traumatizing things one can be subjected to. This applies to women, and it applies to men. Some also claim that it applies to an even greater extent for men because one is expected to be able to defend oneself, and so one fails to do so and is subjected to assault. It is, so to speak, a manifold violation of masculinity, which can be vulnerable in a bad way. But we shall have all respect for the fact that those who have now been subjected to it have suffered greatly from the assaults.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I shall first make a small correction. It was not Sekotidningen but the newspaper Arbetet, I remember now, that conducted the review with the information we are speaking of now.
Within the framework of the assignment that the Prison and Probation Service now has and which is to be reported on in October, it also includes, of course, accounting for both the extent of the problem, what preventive measures can be taken, and how situations are handled when they occur.
When it comes to the routines, the Prison and Probation Service may perhaps develop in more detail what that entails. What I mean is that how one places inmates between institutions, in departments, and in cells is part of the daily core operations. It follows different routines, of course. It is a completely crucial part of the daily operations.
The questions are important. I think it is very good that we are discussing them. I look forward to taking part in the Prison and Probation Service's analysis and conclusions regarding the future in a couple of months.
Gudrun Nordborg (V)
Madam Speaker! I naturally appreciate that work continues on these issues. It is necessary and a minimum. But it must be done in a skillful manner.
There, one can reflect on questions regarding placements. There are a number of prisoners who are convicted of serious sexual offenses. How does one conduct risk assessments there? Is it reasonable that they should be placed in double cells, or is it a risk factor?
Should we conduct interviews where we test who could potentially sue and hopefully get along well? I would like to add that I have also heard positive examples where those who have had to share a cell and were then offered to live in a solitary cell have refused because they have become such good friends. They feel that the evening conversations have been extremely valuable for them. It can also have a therapeutic effect to socialize if one arrives at wise thoughts together and tries to build a better future than the life they had when they entered prison.
Assessing risk factors is extremely difficult to do both out in reality and within institutions. I would like to praise the ambition to do so, but the question is how it is to be done. I would like to continue to follow the development of that and what is said in the report which, if I understood correctly, would come from Kriminalvården in October.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Once again, I would like to express my thanks to Gudrun Nordborg for an exchange of views that was, as usual, meaningful.
Overall, security is the focus of everything that the Prison and Probation Service engages in. It is about the security for the employees and for the inmates. Regarding double-occupancy, some of the examples that Gudrun Nordborg took up were illuminating. It has shown there to be a fairly large positive potential in double-occupancy in a situation where one knows that isolation can often be what is most demanding. This applies even though people, of course, have a need for privacy and private life to the extent that it is possible to satisfy it when they are detained.
Generally speaking, the greatest frictions have arisen in common areas that are built for a certain number of residents but where twice as many must share the space. That being said, it is clear that there are risks with double occupancy, and the documented abuses that have occurred are extremely serious and completely unacceptable.
I just want to confirm that the Prison and Probation Service, in line with the government, takes this most seriously. It has also taken on the assignment with great seriousness. I am sure that what comes out of it will be to the benefit of both the Prison and Probation Service as an authority and for the employees and the inmates as we look forward.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.