Spend a not-so-hard time in the surprisingly chic prisons of Norway
HALDEN – “Hello everyone! How are you today !?”
On stage, behind his keyboard, the musician captures the applause and wild chatter, while he introduces the members of his group. They embark on a cover of a reggae version of a Jackson Brothers song, the lights flash, as the singers confidently switch from English to Arabic, Norwegian and even a few words of French. A filmmaker captures the scene, while a young radio reporter conducts interviews.
It’s hard to imagine all of this happening in a high-security facility an hour from Oslo. Indeed, this prison in the town of Halden is more like a hotel.
“Life sentences do not exist in Norway,” notes prison director Are Hoidal. “All of these people will be our neighbors one day. The prisoners remain human beings; we take away their freedom, but not their rights.
Hoidal is used to answering questions from surprised researchers, government officials and journalists who come to study the “Norwegian prison model”. He says the starting point is, “We are not building a modern prison like a prison of the past. “
Clean kitchens and close supervision
The buildings, designed by Studio Erik Moller, are clean, bright and with a well-thought-out distribution of space. In Halden, single cells measure 12 square meters, overlooking the surrounding forest, and include a shower, toilet, refrigerator, desk and flat-screen TV.
Each detainee is part of a unit of 10 detainees, mixing those already convicted and others still on trial. Each unit has a kitchen, a TV room and a games room, all under high surveillance by guards who have an observation window on the common room.
There is a special unit for inmates with a family, consisting of living room, kitchen and two bedrooms, for children and parents. The shops are well furnished, with prices comparable to those “outside”, unusual for prisons. The library has 5,000 books in 20 languages and 1,200 DVDs. There are painting, sculpture, cooking, music and branding workshops. Teachers make sure to talk about “students”, not prisoners.
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Isn’t it good, Norwegian wood? – Photo: Trond Isaksen
“Yes, the conditions are good, but we are not free. And yet, I have my family, a house, but it’s rare. The others are alone, ”says Glenn“ Angel ”, 42. He applied to be transferred to Halden in order to pursue a master’s degree in economics.
The right conditions do not change the fact that the rules must be understood. Management says there are no major safety issues.
Sport is also essential, with well-equipped gymnasiums and outdoor courts and professional coaches. “But there is no weight lifting, we don’t want Mr. Universe here, it’s not good for rehabilitation,” says Hoidal. “We prefer team sports.”
Last but not least, the inmates are busy all day long. Some study to obtain degrees, others work, all intended to prepare for their future. A reclassification service is responsible for putting potential future employers in touch with inmates on their release.
In carpentry training, for example, prisoners build shelves and desks for the Oslo Police Department, repaint cars and change their tires.
These activities, like any other prison in the world, are not well paid, less than $ 15 a day. It is enough, however, to save for their release or to send money to family members – often abroad, as 45% of prisoners in Norway are foreigners.
Yet despite all the positive attention, Norwegians are starting to complain about the cost of maintaining these facilities. A prison like Halden costs a fortune. The ratio is 1.15 held per staff, administrative or educational. A prisoner costs $ 170,000 a year here. In Swiss prisons, it is estimated at around $ 133,000.
If the first studies show that the rate of recidivism after two years is lower than anywhere else for Norwegian prisoners, the question is much more complex for foreign prisoners. They usually have to leave the country after their sentence is served, so why should the state spend so much money on them? Today there are 250 prisoners in Halden from 42 different countries.
Because of these questions, the government in December opened the first prison for foreigners in Kongsvinger, north of Oslo. “It is a test, we will see in two years if it worked”, assures the Secretary of State, Kersten Bergersen, who assures that it is “not a second class prison”.
“In Norway, we do not follow the principle of revenge,” continues Bergersen. “The true Norwegian model is more of a philosophy than a place. The philosophy where you focus on the day you are going out from the moment you walk in. It can be in a high security prison or a low security one. “
Indeed, the same philosophy is at the origin of some 5,000 convicts in the country who wear an electronic surveillance bracelet, while being allowed to live alone. The future is here for Kersten Bergersen. The recidivism rate of people who wear the watch bracelet during the last period of their sentence has fallen to 5% according to the most recent study.