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'Difficult' asylum seekers put in Swedish prison

Published: 11 Oct 12 09:25 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/43748/20121011/

"Desperate" asylum seekers awaiting deportation from Sweden have been placed in a prison after the Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) deemed them too hard to handle.

A special section of the Skogome prison in Gothenburg has been opened to house asylum seekers who have been denied refugee status in Sweden and are set to be deported.

"Those we've taken from the Migration Board are those they can't deal with because they are too complicated; they are acting up or desperate," Christer Isaksson, head of security with the Swedish Prison and Probation Service (Kriminalvården), told Sveriges Radio (SR).

Previously, rejected asylum seekers have been housed in remand centres where they were often isolated and had limited access to telephones or visitors.

The facility opening up at the Gothenburg prison, which is expected to have space for seven people, was touted as an improvement by prison officials.

But the Migration Board's decision to hand responsibility for rejected asylum seekers to the Swedish prison system doesn't sit well with officials at human rights group Amnesty.

"It's not right for people who haven't been convicted or suspected of a crime to be placed in a prison environment," Amnesty's Madelaine Seidlitz told SR.

Migration officials contend, however, that they are unable to guarantee the safety of the individuals to be housed in the prison.

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10:17 October 11, 2012 by byke
Sweden's "Great" judicial system.

Imprisoned without trial and according to officials "Unable to guarantee the safety of the individuals"

Welcome to Sweden.
10:33 October 11, 2012 by RobinHood
The safety and security of failed asylum seekers, those who look after them, and the public, is paramount. No one wants them, for example, to sew their lips together, do they? Or, for example, to rape or hurt one another, or rape or hurt employees of the Migration Board, or heaven forbid, rape or hurt members of the public, do they?

If locking them in "prison conditions" is what it takes to stop them hurting themselves, or hurting other people, then that is what must be done.

Sweden is obliged to keep these poor people as safe and secure as it can until they can be returned to their home countries. The only organisaion in Sweden with the secure facilities, and the experience to keep them safe is the prison service. So be it.
15:40 October 11, 2012 by Morden
prison? what prison? the swedish prison is just a fancy hotel if you compare with the rest of the world.
17:51 October 11, 2012 by byke
Hotel? what hotel? the swedish judicial system is just a joke if you compare it to the rest of the world.
21:54 October 11, 2012 by matona1
RobinHood . you must be out of your mind so the only safer place in your own mind is prison?you can go and be living in prison if that is what you want,useless bagard
02:46 October 12, 2012 by Richard Head
I agree with Byke. Look, these people have been probably fighting with each other, the staff, maybe there has been some rape, who knows? It's time that Sweden builds some 20-room mansions for these people and lets them live the life of luxury that they are entitled to since they are from the Middle East and Africa. The hard-working Swedish taxpayers can fund this with no problem. Great post, Byke!
05:08 October 13, 2012 by TheWatchman
Send them back home if they are going to be attacking/raping people. That's not you do when you are given safe haven.
20:27 October 13, 2012 by alecLoTh
A person's asylum case is rejected...so the next thing on their mind is to rape someone??!! What mindless assertion is this?
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