Reflections on Norwegian Prisons
Inspirational, humane and respected
In May 2008 I was invited to Norway as part of a group of twenty prison governors and chief probation officers from England. The Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy (KRUS) hosted the trip in gratitude for visits made by their trainee prison officers during the last 30 years. The trip involved seminars, prison visits and a celebration of 17th May, Norway’s national day. With the UK’s political antennae often focussed on the United States, it was refreshing to look in a different direction for ideas and stimulation.
Policies and practices can rarely be transplanted from one culture to another. The context is different in so many ways. It was fascinating however to learn about features that gave staff, prisoners and members of the public confidence in the Norwegian prison system. In this short article I have highlighted five recurring themes:
· Many problems that affect criminality have their solutions outside the criminal justice system.
· Political support and trust underpin creative local leadership and use of professional discretion.
· Small prisons have considerable benefits.
· Rehabilitation flourishes where relationships are positive and the focus is on prisoners learning to take responsibility.
· The importance of investment in prison officer training.
Norway, with its oil and gas resources, is a relatively affluent country whose population is 4.7million. The aims of prison and probation are to carry out the sentences of the court and “to enable the offender through his / her initiative, to change their own criminal behaviour”. A White Paper on “Effective Punishment” was going to be presented to Parliament in the next few weeks. It was hoped that this would include a reintegration guarantee to offenders. Full cabinet backing is being sought for measures to tackle problems with housing, education, work, finances and medical treatment. Two of the biggest concerns, mental health and drug treatment are, for example, seen as the province of the Ministry of Health rather than the Ministry of Justice. The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Norway is 15 years and the aspiration is to have no children under 18 years in prison establishments.
The number of people held in custody is about 3,500, and there were 12,774 receptions in 2007. The imprisonment rate is 75 per 100,000. Most prison sentences are short, the average length being 100 days and three out of ten being under one month. Five per cent of sentences are over three years and while there are no life sentences, preventive detention has operated since 2002.
In 2007 there were nearly 35,000 leaves of absence (the equivalent of ROTL – release on temporary licence) from closed prisons. The breach rate was two per thousand. Every prisoner is eligible for leave of absence, subject to a satisfactory risk assessment, after one third of the sentence has been served. An example was given of a serious crime being committed during a period of leave. The governor spoke to the media and the minister backed the service. There are mechanisms to ensure lessons are learnt and where there are serious failings individuals are held to account. It is not however a blame culture and there is acceptance that the behaviour of anyone cannot be 100% predicted.
The smallest prison holds twelve prisoners and there are many with less than fifty inmates. The largest is Oslo prison with about 400 prisoners and the newest, close to the Swedish border will hold about 250. A number of comments were made to explain the virtues of small establishments. Perhaps the most striking was that the prisoner is always an individual, never a number. To enable a range of approaches to be available to those in small prisons there is cooperation between prisons in an area.
I visited Bastøy, an open prison on an island, with a special ethos defined as “an arena for the development of responsibility”. There are 115 prisoners and 69 staff, 40 of whom might be there during the day and 5 at night and at weekends. The governor had resisted higher staff levels arguing that prisoners are left to do work that the staff do not want. The basic values and ideology are crucial to an understanding of this “human – ecological prison”:
Mankind does not own the Earth: The Earth owns mankind. Everything ties together, just as blood ties families together. Mankind is just a thread in the weave. Everything we do in opposition to the weave will turn back on us.
(Indian Chief Seattle from his speech “we are all a part of the earth”)
I don’t know the person, his background, tribe or name. Such knowledge is not important. What is important is that he is a human being.
(Quotation from Bear Heart “A medicine man’s rules for living”)
- Development of Responsibility
Responsibility is a practical skill, and as such needs to be taught and practiced. The training must have an element of trust, and must be meaningful.
Bastøy is designed for long term prisoners approaching the latter stages of their sentence. Average sentence length of inmates is 5 years 5 months and ideally they are there for the last 12-18 months of their sentence. The first item given to a prisoner on arrival is an alarm clock. Special credit cards are given to purchase food and other items at the prison shop. Prisoners live in small houses and are responsible for their cleaning, cooking and shopping. They take part in programmes to address their offending behaviour and attend education or work, on or off the island. There are absolute rules forbidding violence and drugs. Random drug tests are a daily occurrence and prisoners returning from the mainland may be breathalysed. The philosophy that informs every aspect of Bastøy is:
All people can be “ordinary citizens” if they are treated in a positive way, and they can live in a developing environment where the individual is respected and is given responsibility for his own development and behaviour. The environment must be influenced by “good” role models, challenges, demands and meaningful activity.”
In the last two years no one has been released from Bastøy without accommodation and a job to go to. As we said our goodbyes an English governor said that he had been in the Prison Service for 24 years and this had been the best day in all that time.
Each prison officer undertakes a two year training programme at KRUS. There are 3,200 prison staff in Norway and seven applications are received for every training place. To qualify for the staff academy they must have the entrance qualifications for higher education. The first year comprises 4 weeks at the college, followed by practical work with close supervision and guidance for 42 weeks, with two study days weekly. In the second year there are 44 weeks of academic work followed by 6 weeks working as a prison officer. To qualify, the trainee must pass a series of exams, and satisfactorily complete each placement and project work. Officers must undertake a further week of training after three years in post, or on promotion or change of responsibility. Most prisons also organise local training. We were told that this level of commitment to training prison officers reflects the level of responsibility officers have for the well-being of prisoners.
It was refreshing to be immersed for a few days in a society which: realizes the need for a range of measures outside the criminal justice system to tackle the causes of crime; trusts leaders and managers of prisons to do a good job, giving tangible support within an accepted framework of accountability; sees virtue in small institutions and the dangers inherent in large prisons; has a value base that inhibits the development of a risk averse culture and informs arrangements that enable people in custody to learn to take responsibility; and invests heavily in the professional development of prison officers.
Geoff Dobson
deputy director
Prison Reform Trust
May 2008 | 
