A prison chaplain serving in the Stockholm area has issued an urgent call for Swedish churches to become directly involved in addressing the recruitment of teenagers into organised criminal networks, telling a hushed audience at Almedalen Week that "these are not other people's children — they are our children."
Olle Jonasson, who serves at Sollentuna remand prison, was speaking at the opening seminar of Equmeniakyrkan's programme at Sweden's largest annual democratic gathering on the island of Gotland. The event, titled "In Remand — When Can I See Mum Again?", was organised jointly with Studieförbundet Bilda and the Christian Council of Sweden. Over the past two years, Jonasson has encountered a growing number of young people aged 15 to 18 held on suspicion of serious violent offences — a trend Equmeniakyrkan has placed at the centre of its public engagement this year.
"Some of the children I meet do not believe they will live to see 25," Jonasson told the gathering at Vårdklockans kyrka. He described how many young people are lured into criminal networks by promises of money and belonging, without understanding the forces into which they are being drawn. "They are not involved in any war — they are just disposable products, recruited to carry out missions planned by someone else," he said. Many are arrested in dramatic circumstances at home, in front of siblings and parents, before being held in isolation while the legal process unfolds. When the initial shock subsides, Jonasson said, "there is an awakening when they arrive at the remand prison — that is when the conversations often begin."
Jonasson urged that the churches' diaconal work must incorporate prison ministry as a core concern rather than treating it as a specialist niche. Equmeniakyrkan's broader Almedalen programme this year addresses peace, sustainability, youth prospects, and human dignity, with the church seeking to demonstrate that Christian faith belongs in the middle of society's hardest conversations — not at the margins.
(Originally published in Swedish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Equmeniakyrkan / Sändaren — sandaren.se
