Author
The Swedish Migration Agency is the responsible authority for running detention centres. During 2022 a new detention centre in Mölndal replaced the detention centre in Kållered. During 2024, there were six detention centres (Gävle, Märsta, Flen, Mölndal, Ljungbyhed, Åstorp) with an overall capacity of 573.[1]
The detention centres have to take responsibility for all those third country nationals who have received an expulsion or deportation order. Thus, detention centres can also hold third country nationals who have never sought asylum but have received an expulsion order on other grounds such as minor crimes or for overstaying. However, persons who have an expulsion order because they committed a serious crime, with or without previously seeking asylum, may be detained and held either in a prison, remand prison or in police custody. Furthermore, detainees who pose a real threat to others, with or without previously seeking asylum, can also be transferred to a prison, a remand prison or police custody.[2] However, a child under 18 may never be placed in a prison, prison or in police custody. There are no special detention centres for children.
The placement of asylum seekers and irregular migrants in police custody units and prisons in accordance with previously mentioned situations has for a long time been criticised by NGOs, the JO and the Council of Europe Committee on the Prevention of Torture (CPT).[3] The issue persisted, however, and in 2020 the JO expressed further criticism including regarding the possibility for detainees to be held together and having contacts with the outside world. The JO considered that the Government needs to assess how detainees’ rights can be ensured and questions whether detainees who are not expelled for criminal offences should be placed in prison facilities at all.[4]
The CPT expressed continued concerns after their visit to Sweden in 2021 regarding lack of access to health care and to legal aid for people being detained, and that detainees were placed in prison facilities.[5]
The CPT published the response of the Swedish authorities to the report on the 2021 visit, where the Swedish authorities expressed that apart from the regular presence of medical staff, staff employed at the detention centres are trained in first aid and the use of early warning of suicidal tendencies as well as techniques to cope with such situations. All detention staff working close to detainees also undergo training in the use of defibrillators. The Swedish authorities explained that a special placement to a prison facility can be decided to uphold order and security in the detention premises, as the Migration Agency does not have the capacity to handle persons who cause serious security disturbances and pose a threat to themselves or others.[6]
[1] The Swedish Migration Agency, ‘Annual Report 2023’, Dnr: 1.3.2-2024-2238, 22 February 2024, available in Swedish here, page 78.
[2] Chapter 10, Section 20 Aliens Act.
[3] See Swedish Refugee Law Center, ‘Hur ser regelverket ut när det gäller förvar i Sverige och finns det problem med hur det tillämpas?, Rapport om Förvar av juriststudenterna Cecilia Alpin och Arvid Skagerlind vid Uppsala Universitet inom ramen för en människorättsklinik‘, 22 April 2020, Swedish Red Cross, ‘Förvar under lupp (Detention centres under the magnifying glass) ‘, May 2012, available here. See also, CPT, ‘Report sent to the Swedish Government on the visit to Sweden from 9 to 18 June 2009‘, 11 December 2009, available here.
[4] JO, ‘Initiativärende om förhållandena för förvarstagna som säkerhetsplaceras inom kriminalvården‘, 12 november 2020, available in Swedish here.
[5] CPT, ‘Report to the Swedish Government on the visit to Sweden carried out from 18 to 29 January 2021‘, 9 September 2021, available here.
[6] CPT, ‘Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes the response of the Swedish authorities to the report on the 2021 visit’, 25 February 2022, available here.