Sweden’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer announced on Wednesday a series of far-reaching proposals to toughen the country’s penal system, including a new indefinite prison sentence aimed at individuals deemed to pose a continuing danger to society.
At a press conference alongside representatives from the Tidö coalition parties, Strömmer said the purpose of the reforms is to “sharpen society’s view of serious crime,” emphasizing the growing need to confront high-risk offenders with tougher penalties.
As reported by the Samnytt news outlet, those sentenced under what has been called the “security sentence” provision could be kept incarcerated indefinitely, subject to regular reviews, similar to a system already in use in Denmark. Sweden had a comparable measure in the past, but it was abolished.
According to calculations by legal investigator Stefan Reimer, approximately 50 individuals each year could receive such sentences if the proposal is adopted.
The government also proposed that serial rapists be automatically sentenced to life imprisonment, arguing that the gravity and repeat nature of such crimes warrant the harshest possible penalties.
The move strikes a significantly different tone from that offered by Integration Minister Mats Persson back in January, who in an interview with the Expressen newspaper, called for mandatory social integration courses to help reduce the number of rapes committed by foreigners.
His remarks followed the publication of a major study from Lund University which found that 63 percent of those convicted of rape between 2000 and 2020 in Sweden were either born outside of the country or had parents born abroad.
In addition to the security sentence, the Tidö parties put forward a package of reforms that would significantly tighten the rules surrounding conditional release. Under current law, prisoners in Sweden can be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. The government now proposes to raise that threshold to three-quarters, meaning inmates would serve more of their sentences before becoming eligible for parole.
Henrik Vinge, chairman of the Justice Committee and a member of the Sweden Democrats, emphasized the reasoning behind the change, stating that “the need to protect society from dangerous people has increased. We therefore agree that you should serve a larger part of your sentence before release is considered.”
Further measures were also announced to restrict early release for individuals serving at least four years for violent crimes or two years for crimes linked to organized criminal activity. In such cases, early release could be postponed if authorities assess a concrete risk of the convict returning to a life of crime.
This provision is an attempt to target the rapid rise in gang warfare enveloping Sweden, a nation that has seen violent crime soar to record levels in recent years, with fatal shootings and explosions in major cities spiraling out of control.
Just last week, three people were shot dead in broad daylight in downtown Uppsala, while in Tumba, south of Stockholm, a mother and her young daughter were seriously injured after a grenade exploded inside their bedroom in what authorities believe was a gang-related attack on the wrong home.
The proposals also include increasing the shortest possible prison sentence from the current minimum of 14 days to one month, which would bring even the shortest custodial sentences under the conditional release system.
The government intends to phase in the changes starting on Jan. 1, 2026. Longer prison sentences would be prioritized first, while sentences under six years would initially not be covered by the new provisions.
Other proposed changes include extending the post-release probation period from one year to two years, making supervision during that period the default requirement, and revoking parole entirely if the released individual reoffends.