I recently watched a documentary presented by former UK prisons Minister and Thatcherite, Ann Widdecombe, where she visited Halden prison in Norway in order to compare and contrast this one to the 135 which she has allegedly visited during her just over 3 years as Minister during the late 90’s. In the documentary she took a guided tour of the prison in order to see all the facilities, interview the guards and inmates and to understand what she was doing wrong in her brief time in power in this sector. However, in typical Tory fashion whenever she saw something unconventional, progressive, or that made a step towards treating prisoners like human beings, she would shake her head aggressively and begin tutting in the way that any woman with her haircut does (I don’t mean to stereotype but I think if you saw this woman you would probably agree). I was priorly aware of the progressive prison system in Norway however it was interesting to actually physically see what it was like in a maximum security prison in this seemingly utopian society compared to most other countries in the world.
Throughout the entirety of this 40 minute long show Ann kept on repeating variants of the phrases “If you’re in prison you should constantly be reminded you're in prison” or “The idea is if you go to prison it is not a normal life”. I do not understand why this is the way that people's perceptions of prisons have formed. The purpose of prison should not be a deterrent for committing a crime. Prison is supposed to act as a method of separating anti-social citizens from society for a period of time in order to allow them to be rehabilitated, so that when they are released they can be a functioning member of society.
As everyone knows the majority of crime is the result of poverty and an inequality of opportunity for people who come from disadvantaged areas or family’s. It is the result of circumstance or necessity, not out of them being born as "bad people". That is not to say that there are not people who, either out of circumstance or due to psychological conditions, do horrible things who are not the victims of poverty. However, it is a well known fact that disadvantaged people make up a large proportion of inmates, especially in the likes of the UK and the US. Ann is clearly unaware of this fact or simply does not care as she had a particular disdain for the 60 drug dealers in the prison while ignoring the fact that this prison also housed many rapists, murderers and other people who did far worse crimes than distribution of illicit substances.
So what is the situation in Norway/who is going to these prisons?
Norway, as of 2021, houses 3,034 prisoners in the Norwegian prison system (this includes pretrial detainees and remand prisoners). Out of these prisoners the average sentence is around 8 Months. The maximum possible sentence is 21 years, not including crimes related to genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes which can land you up to 30 years. According to research by statista the majority of detainees in Norway are in the system for violence and maltreatment, or drug and alcohol offences.
So what are these prisons like?
Something which even our friend Ann thought was very impressive about Halden was that they have mandatory dental checkups and cleanings two times a week. This is far better than anyone in the public in pretty much any country could hope for. This perfectly displays the type of social infrastructure in place in Norway, as even the prisoners have better access to health care than the majority of people in western countries.
When Ann first entered the prison she was shocked to find out there were no bars in the entire prison. The "cells" themselves were much like small hotel rooms with an ensuite bathroom, which had a shower, a toilet and a sink, thick windows to ensure no one can smash them, a comfy single bed and a tv on the wall. It is insane the fuss she kicked up about people living in humane conditions. This should be the humane standard of living for all inmates. Ann nearly lost her life when she saw they had a fridge in their rooms.
The resources for students in Halden willing to learn and get a degree are next to none in terms of facilities and teaching. These are college level mechanic workshops, metal work workshops and even a music studio for more creative endeavours (which Ann was, as you can guess, not a fan of).
A very large part of the ethos in Norse prisons is that guards aren't just security, they’re more like social workers. In so many countries the sole purpose of the prison guard is to keep the prisoners in the prison and it doesn't really matter what goes on inside as long as they can’t escape. However, in these prisons inmates are treated with respect, like humans and not caged animals. Guards listen to the concerns of the inmates and help them. I think this is the very minimum which can be adopted from this model. And I understand that prison guards are under a huge amount of pressure in overcrowded prisons, however I think having a little more empathy towards one another and towards each other's positions can go a long way for all party’s.
This all ties into the idea of rehabilitation. The biggest part of the rehabilitation process itself consists of teaching detainees skills which they will be able to use when they go to the outside world. This is a common theme which we see throughout all progressive prison systems. In another piece which I watched about a prison in Finland, a country which grants even more liberties to prisoners, showed a man getting a coding degree while he was in prison. So when he was eventually released he could get a good job in order to gain a stable footing in the real world rather than just being tossed out onto the streets with little help apart from halfway homes depending on the country. It is no wonder the reoffense rates after leaving prison in most countries are so high. What do you expect when you give people little to no resources in the real world.
Yeah ok, but do they actually work?
Yes, the recidivism rate of prisoners once freed after 5 years is just below 25%, which is staggeringly low compared to the recidivism rate in Ann’s home prison system which is 70%. Ireland's reoffending rate is 47.2% and Americas is a massive 76.6%. Compared to other countries Norway's prison system is, as far as prison systems go, successful, as they fulfil a purpose other than to make them so bad that people are afraid to go there, or packing as many inmates in a private American prison as possible in order to turn over profits.
Another problem, which a reformed rehabilitation program fixes, is the problem of institutionalisation. Due to the relatively short sentences which many serve, the product of a broken system which we see time and time again which ruins so many people's lives. This is fixed as priorly mentioned the majority of detainees come out of longer prison sentences with full third level educations, which they can go on to get jobs in the real world with. It teaches rehabilitation and reeducation.
Another thing which should be said about Norwegian prisons is that the prisoners are overall happier. Instead of making them “pay” for their crimes by putting them in inhumane conditions, they are given proper facilities and help in order to improve their mental health and as a result of that, according in a prison guard in the prison, in the 10 year history of Halden there has only been 3-4 suicides. This in comparison to the over 100 suicides a year in the British prison system, and the 700 people who killed themselves in 2019 in America is astonishing.
However, this does not mean that it is too late for other countries' systems. The reincarnation rate in Norway in the 80's was 70% before it went through major reform. This came as the result of a whole load of new policy which was a long process spanning over many decades to modernise Norway and transform it from a poor fishing nation to the economic superpower it is today. So it is not too late for other countries to change their ways and to adopt a more effective way of dealing with societal outliers who are most of the time just victims of a broken system.
All of this does not mean however that this isn’t still a prison. They still are only allowed visits twice a week from their significant others however they are given more liberty's with this time. But it is still not a good situation to be in. While the prison itself does not aim to deter people from offending in the same way that other systems aim to, but ultimately based on statistics fail to do, it does help them to get their life back on track and make ¼ people who do go to jail realise that it is not a place they want to go back to and they would much rather be doing something more productive with their lives. Prison is a bad place regardless of how “luxurious”, or not, it is. People do not want to be in prison as it is simply part of the human condition to seek freedom. This is why many countries such as Germany and Denmark have introduced laws which state that it is not illegal to escape prison.
15 November, 2021