Overcrowding and the use of solitary confinement

What happened

The Prison and Probation Service has had overcrowding in prisons and remand centres. JO has reviewed the use of separation and isolation, especially of young people.

Who reviewed

The Parliamentary Ombudsmen (JO) and the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)

Criticism

JO and the CPT have criticised prolonged isolation of remand prisoners, shortcomings in outdoor exercise and human contact, and insufficient procedures for separation.

Outcome

In 2021 the Riksdag adopted new legislation on restrictions for young people in remand custody. The Prison and Probation Service has added places through rapidly established pavilions.

Agency's own reply

The Prison and Probation Service has stated that it is working on capacity expansion, reduced isolation and greater legal certainty, but that overcrowding remains a structural problem.

Updated 2026-07-08

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SVERIGEFAKTA. (2026). SVERIGEFAKTA. Retrieved 2026-10-03, from https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/kriminalvarden-overbelaggning

SVERIGEFAKTA (2026) SVERIGEFAKTA. Available at: https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/kriminalvarden-overbelaggning (Accessed: 2026-10-03).

SVERIGEFAKTA, "SVERIGEFAKTA", https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/kriminalvarden-overbelaggning (accessed 2026-10-03).

@misc{sverigefakta_2026_en_agencyoversight_kriminalvardenoverbelaggning,
  author       = {SVERIGEFAKTA},
  title        = {SVERIGEFAKTA},
  year         = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/kriminalvarden-overbelaggning}},
  note         = {Dataset v2026.2, accessed 2026-10-03}
}

https://sverigefakta.com/en/agency-oversight/kriminalvarden-overbelaggning