Severe criticism of the Swedish Migration Agency for leaving a detainee in a visiting room overnight at its detention centre in Mölndal

Summary of the decision: : Due to an oversight, a detainee was left in a visiting room at the Swedish Migration Agency’s detention centre in Mölndal after a family visit. The detainee was forced to spend the night there and was not discovered by staff until the next morning, by which time they had been in the visiting room for 14 hours.

This incident demonstrates that the detention centre did not have adequate procedures in place to ensure that detainees were collected from visiting rooms after visits. The Parliamentary Ombudsman had previously noted shortcomings in the detention centre’s procedures in conjunction with inspections conducted in January 2023 and February 2024.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman states that the incident demonstrates that there are still serious shortcomings in the detention centre’s procedures, which in this case have had unacceptable consequences for the treatment of a detainee. The Swedish Migration Agency is severely criticised for the incident.