The Swedish Act on Correctional Treatment in Institutions provides wide opportunities for deinstitutionalization. The Swedish Parliament has also approved basic principles in the treatment of sentenced offenders. The importance of handling offenders without institutionalization is emphasized. Where institutionalization is considered necessary, every effort is made to keep the offender in contact with society. Offenders serving sentences of up to 1 year (about 90 percent of the annual intake) are normally sent to small institutions in their own localities. Offenders serving longer terms will ordinarily be sent to national prisons, but may also be admitted to local institutions for the final phase of imprisonment. The local institutions have open, flexible regimes which give inmates extensive social contact, especially with employers, educational facilities, and leisure activities. The prison system uses local social services rather than developing its own. Despite the general increase in the number of persons sentenced for crime in Sweden, the daily average prison population is relatively low--3,700 sentenced prisoners in 1979 (45 inmates per 100,000 of population). The new development that allows inmates to live away from the prison with a private family is intended primarily for treating drug dependent inmates. Four references are provided.