Construction of nearly 200 new places for female inmates begins at the Ystad prison, set to become the Nordic region's largest women's facility. The number of women entering prison has nearly doubled over ten years, with more younger women linked to gangs and organized crime demanding higher security. The expansion addresses growing space shortages in Sweden's correctional system.
On Monday, the first spade was turned for a major expansion of Ystad prison, prompted by a sharp rise in female inmates. According to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården), the number of women starting prison sentences has nearly doubled over ten years: from 556 in 2015 to 1,079 last year. Director General Martin Holmgren states: "We have seen in recent years that we have had difficulty meeting the growing number of women in the correctional system."
The expansion adds 192 new places dedicated to women, addressing a shift in inmate profiles. Historically, women's prisons have been dominated by those with addiction issues and violent relationships leading to crimes in adulthood. Now, there is a rise in younger women involved in gang environments and organized crime, committing more serious offenses. Holmgren adds: "What we are now seeing is a growing number of younger women, linked to the gang environment, parts of organized crime, grosser crimes and without the type of issues that many had before."
To manage this, places with the highest security level (class one) are being created in Tidaholm and Saltvik outside Härnösand, with provisional solutions already in place at Kumla. Prison chief Anders Jansson in Ystad warns of risks: "It can involve a capacity to continue committing crimes despite being locked up, resorting to violence or putting people in one's surroundings at risk."
Jansson notes differences from men's prisons: women have a different perspective on children and parenthood, and they receive far fewer visits, possibly due to stigma. In the future, teenage girls convicted of serious crimes may be placed in Ystad, according to reports.