Sweden's Prison Solution: Sending Criminals Abroad

As Sweden faces rising gang crime and an overburdened prison system, a government-appointed commission suggests sending inmates to serve sentences abroad. This potential solution aims to ease pressures while maintaining a focus on tackling gang-related activities, which have notably increased in recent years.

In response to a surging influx of new inmates resulting from escalating gang crime, Sweden might begin sending criminals to serve their sentences in foreign prisons, a government-appointed commission revealed on Wednesday.

Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer announced Sweden is already discussing the possibility with other nations to rent prison space. The Nordic country, grappling with the highest per capita gun violence in Europe, has seen notable success in combating gangs through updated legal frameworks and increased law enforcement resources.

Despite these advancements leading to more convictions, the surge in incarceration rates has overwhelmed the prison system. In 2023 alone, Swedish courts issued nearly 200,000 months of prison sentences—a significant uptick from previous years. With jail and prison facilities stretched to their limits, Sweden's Prison and Probation Service forecast the need for 27,000 beds by 2033, compared to the current 11,000 available beds.

(With inputs from agencies.)