News from Sweden 🇸🇪 🔒 Sweden wants to scrap the legal right to a private cell

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]News from Sweden. Sweden wants to scrap the right to a private cell for people in pre-trial detention, and it's part of much bigger prison space crisis. But first, follow like Sweden for more things Swedish. Sweden is running out of prison space fast. The country has currently around 12,000 spaces in prisons and remand centers, and the government's own plans call to nearly double it to 19 and 1/2 thousand by 2035. The current coalition has been tightening the sentences across the board. More people going to prison for longer, and the system simply can't keep up. So, today a government investigator, MP Fredrik Scherholm, presented a package of small fixes to ease the pressure in short term. The headline proposal is abolish a legal right to private cell in remand custody. Now, to be clear, the MP himself admits this won't actually create new spaces because double occupancy in remand centers is already happening in practice, but removing the right makes it legally cleaner. Other proposals include allowing people in remand custody to be temporarily placed in police holding cells, letting people serve sentences with electronic ankle tags, and perhaps most significantly, giving the prison service ability to delay the start of prison sentence by up to 9 months when there's simply no space. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer says the proposals are headed for consultation rounds, but the government direction is clear. They want all of this implemented. Target date, 1st July 2027.