Forte funds research on pathways to work after prison service

The project, "Knowledge for benefit – co-created municipal structures for labour market establishment after prison and probation care", has been granted SEK 1,042,109 within Forte's initiative Utilisation of working life research 2026. Starting at the beginning of July this year and for the next two years, the researchers will, together with municipalities and authorities, develop working methods that can facilitate the path to work for people who leave the prison service.

"Getting a job is often crucial for people to be able to establish themselves after prison and reduce the risk of recidivism. At the same time, we know that the transition to the labour market is often characterised by a lack of coordination and unclear division of responsibilities between different actors," says Katarina Giritli Nygren, Professor of Sociology at Mid Sweden University's Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, HSV.

Building on previous projects

The research builds on results from the previous Forte-funded research program "LOKA – Local Labor Market Programs: Challenges of and for an Inclusive Labor Market". Several challenges linked to the establishment of the labour market for people with a prison and probation background were identified, especially in small and medium-sized municipalities.

"Within LOKA, we saw that there is a lot of knowledge locally about what works, but that it is often person-bound and difficult to translate into long-term working methods. With this project, we want to take the next step and, together with municipalities and authorities, develop sustainable structures that can live on over time," says Katarina Giritli Nygren.

The goal: to develop concrete working methods 

The project is carried out in close cooperation with three pilot municipalities. Municipal labour market units, the Prison and Probation Service, the Probation Service and the Public Employment Service will participate in workshops and co-creative processes where obstacles and opportunities are identified and analysed.

The goal is to develop concrete recommendations, learning data and collaboration models that can be integrated into regular activities and also used by other municipalities with similar conditions.

"The funding makes it possible to take research results further from analysis to concrete change work. We get the opportunity to work closely with practitioners and at the same time create new knowledge about how the establishment of the labour market after prison and probation works in different organisational contexts," says Katarina Giritli Nygren.

In addition to Katarina Giritli Nygren, Mid Sweden University researchers Sara Nyhlén, sociology, and Ida Sjöberg, criminology, participate.