Sweden Expands Women's Prisons Amid Rising Female Incarceration and Gang Crime
Sweden is expanding its largest women's prison in Ystad to tackle overcrowding amid a doubling of female inmates and increased gang-related crime.
- • Ystad women's prison is expanding by 192 places, becoming the Nordics' largest women's prison.
- • Female inmate numbers nearly doubled from 556 in 2015 to 1,079 in 2024, straining capacity.
- • More younger women are involved in serious gang crime, changing prison security needs.
- • Sweden plans to increase total prison places and may lower criminal responsibility age, requiring facility adaptations.
Key details
Sweden has begun expanding the Ystad women's prison with 192 new places, which will make it the largest women's prison in the Nordic region. This expansion addresses the surge in female incarceration, as the number of women sentenced to prison nearly doubled in the past decade, rising from 556 in 2015 to 1,079 in 2024, according to both Aftonbladet and Dagens Nyheter (IDs 100507, 100509).
Current women's prison capacity is severely strained, with Ystad operating at 126% occupancy and often housing two inmates per room. The increase in the prison population is driven not only by more admissions but also by longer sentences—averaging 453 days in 2024, which is 70 days longer than the previous year. The most common offenses include drug-related crimes.
A notable shift in inmate demographics is the emergence of younger women deeply involved in gang activities, playing significant roles in organized crime rather than just subordinate parts. Martin Holmgren, Director-General of the Swedish Prison and Probation Service, highlighted this growing trend and its implications for prison management and security, noting that some prisons have introduced high-security facilities to handle these new risks (100507, 100509).
The changing nature of the female prison population has resulted in an atmosphere increasingly resembling that of men's prisons, raising challenges for staff safety and inmate management. Anders Jansson, Ystad prison chief, observed increased violence risks and stressed the difference in visitation patterns, with women prisoners receiving significantly fewer visits compared to men (100507).
Sweden's overall prison system is planning substantial growth, aiming to raise total prison and detention places from nearly 11,000 to 29,000 by 2034, partly due to longer sentences linked to organized crime. The government is also considering renting prison spaces in Estonia to alleviate overcrowding. Future developments include preparations for a potential lowering of the criminal responsibility age to 13 for serious crimes, which would require tailored rehabilitative efforts and facility adaptations for younger female offenders (100509).