The Swedish Prison and Probation Service warns of rising unauthorized communication between detainees in remand centers. Reports have more than doubled in five years and inmates use new methods such as chewing off sealing strips.
In newly built modular facilities such as the Hinseberg remand center outside Örebro it is enough to raise one's voice to be heard through the walls. Similar problems exist in Nyköping, Ystad and Gothenburg. Adrian Russo, head of corrections at Hinseberg, calls it a tangible problem.
Christoffer Sunesson, unit manager at the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, says inmates chew off black silicone strips that resemble licorice straps. The gaps that appear allow them to talk to cell neighbors without staff noticing.
The number of reports of unauthorized communication rose from 779 in 2022 to 1632 last year. Nearly 6000 such reports have been filed over five years. Methods such as using toilet pipes have existed for a long time but are now supplemented by new tricks.
