Although statistics from the Council of Europe indicate that Sweden has one of the highest daily costs per inmate in Europe, a detailed comparison with five similar countries shows that the Swedish daily cost is likely not significantly higher.
In fact, Sweden’s daily cost per inmate is lower than in three of the countries. This is partly because countries include different costs in their reporting, making direct comparisons misleading, and partly due to Sweden’s higher social security contributions, which have a considerable impact in a staff-intensive organisation. The remaining difference can mostly be attributed to variations in staff-inmate ratios and prison population density.
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