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 2025, there were six detention centres (Gävle, Märsta, Flen, Mölndal, Ljungbyhed, Åstorp) with an overall capacity of 678.[1]
The detention centres have to take responsibility for all the third country nationals who have received an removal or deportation order. Thus, detention centres can also hold third country nationals who have never sought asylum but have received a removal order on other grounds such as minor crimes or for overstaying. However, persons who have a removal 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]
Detainees that have reached the age of 18 may be kept separated from others who are detained if this is necessary for maintaining order and security in the facility, or if he or she poses a serious danger to themselves or others. Decisions to keep someone separated are made by the Migration Agency.
The decision must be reconsidered whenever there is reason to do so, but at least every three days.[3]
A child may never be placed in a prison or in police custody. There are no special detention centres for children. As is described below, the Commission of Inquiry reviewing the legislation on detention proposed that the Swedish Migration Agency should establish security units, so that, in a security case, a child may be placed in a security unit if there are exceptional reasons. The same applies to the placement of a child who has been expelled by a general court due to a criminal offence.[4] The Migration Agency’s placement decision must, according to the proposal, be reviewed anew at least once a month. If a placement decision is not reviewed within the prescribed time, the decision ceases to apply.
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).[5]
The Commission of Inquiry reviewing the legislation on detention was, partly because of the critic of the JO, instructed to analyse whether there is a need to change the requirements for placing a detainee in prison, and to propose measures that would allow detained persons to remain in detention centres to a greater extent instead of being placed in prison.[6] The Commission suggests that the Swedish Migration Agency should establish security units in the detention centres, a change that would decrease the need to place detainees in prison.[7] The inquiry further proposes that a detained foreign national must not be placed under more intrusive supervision or control than necessary to maintain order or security. Decisions by the Migration Agency regarding such placements must be properly documented, justified, and recorded in a separate document.[8]
[1] Swedish Migration Agency, ‘Annual Report 2025’, Dnr: MVA-2026-00711, 20 February 2026, available in Swedish here.
[2] Chapter 10, Section 20 Aliens Act.
[3] Chapter 11, section 7.
[4] SOU 2025:16, Ett nytt regelverk för uppsikt och förvar, 17 February 2025, chapter 11.16, p. 555, available in Swedish here.
[5] 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. See earlier AIDA reports for more details on the critic by the CPT. See also SOU 2025:16, Ett nytt regelverk för uppsikt och förvar, 17 February 2025, chapter 11.6, available in Swedish here.
[6] The Swedish Government, Moderna och ändamålsenliga regler för förvar, Dir. 2023:119, 10 August 2023, p. 10, available in Swedish here.
[7] SOU 2025:16, Ett nytt regelverk för uppsikt och förvar, 17 February 2025, chapter 11, p. 487, available in Swedish here.
[8] SOU 2025:16, Ett nytt regelverk för uppsikt och förvar, 17 February 2025, chapter 11.10, p. 519, available in Swedish here.