Kumla Prison () is a prison facility in

Kumla Municipality Kumla Municipality () is a municipalities of Sweden, municipality in Örebro County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the stad (Sweden), city of Kumla. The present municipality was formed during the latest nationwide local government refo ...

, Sweden. It was opened in 1965 and is Sweden's largest prison. Kumla is one of three high security prisons in Sweden holding risk inmates (security class 1). On 18 March 2009, a new supermax facility was opened inside the Kumla Prison.

Controversies

The 1972 escape of 15 inmates

On the night of 18 August 1972, between 3 am and 4 am, 15 inmates escaped from the Kumla bunker, which was considered the most escape-proof prison in Sweden. Those who escaped were considered to be some of Sweden's most dangerous criminals. Among the escapees were Lars-Inge Svartenbrandt, Miro Barešić and Nisse Pistol, among others. One of the factors contributing to the success of the escape was that the security department was not monitored by guards around the clock. Instead, guards patrolled the department at regular intervals during the night. The police were able to establish early on that the 15 cell doors had not been broken into, but had been opened with a key. However, it has never been proven how the actual opening of the doors took place. One theory is that the inmates made their own keys by secretly making impressions of the guards' keys. Another theory is that the keys were bought by a prison guard. In order to open the doors, an inmate managed to fool the guards that he was already locked up. He then hid until the ward was unattended and then unlocked the others' cells. A total of 20 cells were opened, but five inmates chose to stay behind, partly because they had little time left before their release. The escape caused a huge police response. All 15 of the escapees were eventually captured by the police.

The 1991 escape

On 9 May 1991, Marten Imandi and Ioan Ursuț escaped from Kumla. They were both placed in the security section of the institution.

Notable inmates

* Jackie Arklov *

Clark Olofsson Clark Oderth Olofsson (later known as Daniel Demuynck; born 1 February 1947) is a Swedish criminal. He has received sentences for attempted murder, assault, robbery, and dealing narcotics, and has spent more than half of his life in prison in Sw ...

Christer Pettersson Carl Gustaf Christer Pettersson (23 April 1947 – 29 September 2004) was a Swedish criminal who was a suspect in the 1986 assassination of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden. In 1989 he was convicted of the murder in district court but ...

* Lars-Inge Svartenbrandt * Rakhmat Akilov *

John Ausonius John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius (born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg, 12 July 1953), known in the media as Lasermannen ("the Laser Man"), is a Swedish far-right extremist convicted of murder and 10 bank robberies. Between August 1991 to January 19 ...

* Stig Bergling * Helge Fossmo * Daniel Maiorana * Mijailo Mijailović *

Jon Nödtveidt Jon Andreas Nödtveidt (28 June 1975 – 13 August 2006) was a Swedish musician best known as the founder, vocalist and lead guitarist of the melodic black metal, melodic black/Melodic death metal, death metal band Dissection (band), Dissection. ...

Tony Olsson John Tony Olsson (born 13 March 1965 in Visby) is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Swedish team that finished third in the 1988 and 1989 World Team Cup finals. He earned 26 caps for the Sweden ...

* Rahmi Sahindal * Tommy Zethraeus * Miro Barešić

References

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Kumla Kumla is a locality and the seat of Kumla Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with a population of 21,640 as of 2018. Geography Kumla is situated roughly 15 kilometres south of neighbouring city Örebro, and is connected to its much larger nei ...

Kumla Municipality Buildings and structures in Örebro County