Sweden may send criminals to serve their sentences in prisons abroad, a government-appointed commission said on January 29.
This country is facing difficulties in managing prison capacity, due to the increase in the number of young prisoners, an increase that is linked to a wave of gang crimes.
"There is a need to work on finding new solutions within the Prison Service," said Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer during a press conference.
Strommer said that Sweden is already in talks with other countries about renting their prisons, without mentioning the names of the countries.
Among European countries, Denmark, wanting to ease the overcrowding situation in its prisons, has reached an agreement with Kosovo to rent 300 cells in the prison in Gjilan. However, this 10-year agreement, from which Kosovo will benefit about 200 million euros, has not yet begun to be implemented.
Sweden, on the other hand, is facing a surge in gang crime, which has increased in the past two decades. The country is among the countries with the highest per capita gun violence in Europe.
With the adoption of new laws and increased personnel and budget, the Swedish police have achieved success in the fight against gangs and in the last two years there have been fewer fatal shootings and more convictions.
While this success is welcome, the country's prison system is overwhelmed. According to the latest data, which dates back to 2023, Swedish courts sentenced people to a total of almost 200,000 months of imprisonment, which represents a 25 percent increase over the previous year and double the sentences handed down in 2014.
Sweden's prisons and detention centers are at full capacity and the Prison Service has said it needs around 27,000 new beds by 2033.
Mattias Wahlstedt, the head of the commission, said there are no legal obstacles to Sweden renting cells abroad, but the proposal to do so must first be approved by Parliament. REL (A2 Televizion)
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