In Sweden, 21 different state-run secure care institutions have the unique authority to offer locked wards and use restrictive measures such as solitary confinement, care in solitude and bodily search. During the last decades, inspections have repeatedly revealed poor conditions and malpractice in Swedish secure care and lately an increased use of restrictive measures, such as solitary confinement. In the circumstances of secure care staff’s complex work tasks, poor conditions and the increasing use of restrictive measures (especially of girls), we are carrying out a study with the aim to analyse scope and variation over time of the most privacy infringing restrictive measures at secure care institutions and how this is related to organisation, target group and staff’s work prerequisites, and to form an understanding of how staff balance their task to provide both safety and treatment for young people. This presentation is based on the first part of the study, containing a quantitative analyse of the use of selected restrictive measures 2008-2022. Preliminary results show a great variation between different secure care institutions, along with variation due to young people’s gender and, in some extent, age. In the presentation we will focus on how these variations can be understood in relation to target groups, organisation and policy changes.