Mental health,out-of-cell activities,and misconduct among children and young adults on remand in Sweden before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Swedish remand practices have received international criticism due to the restrictive regimes that individuals are subjected to during detention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swedish Prison and Probation Service implemented several control measures which exacerbated already restrictive conditions in Swedish remand prisons. Using manually coded data from the Swedish Prison and Probation Service's internal client register collected between 2019 and 2020, this study examines the mental health, out-of-cell activities, and misconduct among 15- to 20-year-olds in Swedish remand prisons before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings show that children and young adults held on remand have adverse experiences, with the majority reporting mental health problems and substance abuse. During the pandemic, there was a decrease in out-of-cell activities, although the number of visits by psychologists increased significantly. While there was no conclusive evidence that mental health problems increased during the pandemic, there was a significant increase in levels of reported misconduct. The analyses also identified other factors that influenced misconduct, including longer periods of remand and being detained without restrictions, as well as previous experiences of remand and substance abuse. Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings are relevant in light of the current punitive developments in Sweden; drastic increases in the number of remanded individuals may lead to more restrictive conditions where security concerns are given priority at the expense of humane detention regimes for children and young adults on remand.