Forgotten in the detention center toilet – broke out after an hour

A man in the Ystad prison was left locked in the visiting department toilet.

The man ended up breaking out violently.

He then tried to call his mother – who doesn’t seem to have answered.

It was an evening in early April that the staff at the detention center discovered that a detainee was not in his cell. Instead, they found him in an adjacent visiting section, where the man had been allowed to go to the toilet, but he had been forgotten there earlier in the evening, reports the news agency Siren.

According to his own account, the inmate spent about an hour in the toilet before violently breaking out. He was then able to walk around the ward unsupervised for about ten minutes. Once free, he took the opportunity to make a call using one of the ward’s phones. The man managed to make five calls, one of which was to his mother.

According to the Swedish Prison and Probation Service’s investigation, which reviewed the camera footage from the incident, it does not appear that any of the numbers called were answered.

The technology didn’t work as intended

According to the investigation, the reason why the man could have been forgotten in the toilet is due to several reasons. On the one hand, the increased occupancy within the Prison and Probation Service is pointed out, and on the other hand, it is noted that the signaling device at the toilet did not work as intended. The latter should be fixed.

It is also written that the detainee was placed in a space that is fundamentally not planned or adapted to accommodate inmates.

Staff also testified that there was a lot to do and that many of the regular staff were away.