Sweden is now able to send criminals to serve their sentences in prisons abroad, a government-appointed commission said on Wednesday, as the Swedish government struggles to handle prison crisis and gang crime.
The Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer had during a news conference, said Sweden was already in talks with other countries about renting space in their prisons.
Sweden’s Solutions to Overcrowding
Sweden has been ravaged by gang crime that has escalated over the last two decades , propelling the Nordic nation to the top rankings of deadly gun violence per capita in Europe.
Armed with new legal tools and increased personnel and funding, Swedish police have made progress against the gangs – with there being fewer deadly shootings and more convictions over the last two years.
Unfortunately, it has put a strain on Sweden’s prison system. In 2023, the latest year for which prison records are available, Swedish courts handed down prison sentences totalling just under 200,000 months, a 25% increase from the previous year and a doubling compared with 2014.
Gang Crime and Prison System in Sweden
Sweden’s jails and prisons are full and the Prison and Probation Service says it will need about 27,000 beds by 2033, up from 11,000 today.
Mattias Wahlstedt, head of the commission, said there were no legal obstacles to Sweden renting prison slots abroad but that a proposal for that action would have to pass parliament first.
