Sweden considers transferring prisoners overseas as a result of the surge in gang-related crimes

As the nation struggles to manage an inflow of new convicts brought on by a wave of gang violence, a government-appointed panel announced on Wednesday that Sweden can transfer criminals to spend their sentences in prisons overseas.

At a press conference, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer stated that Sweden was already in discussions with other nations over the rental of space in their jails and that “new solutions within the Prison and Probation Service are needed.”

Sweden has been at the top of Europe’s ranks for lethal gun violence per capita due to gang criminality, which has increased over the past 20 years.

Over the past two years, Swedish police have reduced fatal shootings and boosted convictions with the help of new legal instruments, more staff, and more cash.

Although such achievement has been praised, the jail system has been burdened. Swedish courts imposed jail sentences totaling well under 200,000 months in 2023, the most recent year for which statistics are available. This represents a 25% rise from the year before and a doubling from 2014.

The Prison and Probation Service estimates that by 2033, it would require almost 27,000 beds, up from the current 11,000, as Sweden’s jails and prisons are already overcrowded.

The commission’s director, Mattias Wahlstedt, stated that there were no legal barriers to Sweden renting jail space overseas, but that a request to do so would need to be approved by parliament first.

Additionally, authorities have been battling an extraordinary wave of explosions, mostly in the Stockholm metropolitan area. According to authorities, there have been 30 bombs in January alone, the majority of which were gang-extortion attacks against businesses and civilians.