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A Prison With Humanity

Halden prison in Norway aims to rehabilitate prisoners through humane treatment. It focuses on creating a normal living environment inside the prison, where prisoners live in apartment-style group housing and have access to amenities like coffee, communal areas, and flat screen TVs in private cells. The prison emphasizes a relaxed atmosphere, with little noise or violence, unlike many British prisons. As one of Norway's highest security prisons, it houses serious criminals but still aims to feel more like a rural campus than a typical prison, focusing on rehabilitation over punishment and preparing prisoners for release back into society.

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84 views1 page

A Prison With Humanity

Halden prison in Norway aims to rehabilitate prisoners through humane treatment. It focuses on creating a normal living environment inside the prison, where prisoners live in apartment-style group housing and have access to amenities like coffee, communal areas, and flat screen TVs in private cells. The prison emphasizes a relaxed atmosphere, with little noise or violence, unlike many British prisons. As one of Norway's highest security prisons, it houses serious criminals but still aims to feel more like a rural campus than a typical prison, focusing on rehabilitation over punishment and preparing prisoners for release back into society.

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Chesnel Chasles La Logique
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Anglais - Texte 2

A PRISON WITH HUMANITY

Halden prison smells of freshly brewed coffee, in the workshop axeas,in the games
rooms alld in the communalaparhnent-styleareas,whereprisonemlive togetherin groupsof
eight.

Coffee makesyou hungry, so in the aIïemoonthe guardson Unit A a separâtedwing


where sex offendersare held for their own protection bdtrg inmateswaffles andjam, which
guardsand inmatessit down and eattogether.

Anotherremarkablething is how quiet the prison is. Thereisn't any of the enraged,
persistentbangingofdoors you hearin Britishprisons,not leastbecause thep sonelsarenot
lockedup during much of the day. The govemor, Mr Hojdal, looks whet âsked
surprised
about figures for prisoner attacks on guardsor [Link] saysthere
isn't muchviolencehereandhe cat't remember the lasttimetlere wasa fight

Halden is one of Norway's highest-security jails, holditg rapists, murderersand


paedophiles. Sinceit openedtwo yearsago,at a costo1$217m,it hasacquireda reputationas
the world's mosthumanep [Link] is the flagshipofthe Norwegianjusticesystem,wherethe
focus is on rehabilitationratherthan punishment.

Halden has athactedattention globally for its designand its relative [Link] in a
forest,the prisonblocksarea modelof [Link] times,the environment feelsmore
Scandinavian boutiquehoteithanclassA prison.

Every Haldencell has 3 flatscreentelevision,its olm toilet (with a doorl), a shower,


which comeswith large,soft, white [Link] cells havecupboardsand desksand huge,
unbarredwindows. "There was much focus on the design", Hojdal says "We wantedit to be
light andpositive."

Obviouslythe hotelcomparison is a stupidone,sincethe problemwith beingin prisonis


that you cannot leave. Even if this prison compoundhas more in coûrmonwith â modem,
rural university campus,the key point aboutit is that, hiddeû behindthe trees,is a thick, tall,
concretewall, impossibleto scale.

Giventhe constaintsof needingto keep245 high-riskpeopleincarcerated' crcatingan


envircnmentthat was as unprisonlike as possiblewas a priority. "The architectureis ûot like
other prisons,"Hojdal says."We felt it shouldn'tlook like a [Link] rvùrtedto create
[Link] can't seethe wall, this couldbe anlthing,anywhereLife behindthe walls
shouldbe asmuchlike life outsidethe wallsaspossiblc."

This principleis govemedby a key featureof the Norwegiansentencitgsystem:no life


sentences and a ma,\imumteIm of 21 yea$. Everyoteirnprisoned insideNorwegianprisons
will be released- maybenot Breivik, but everyote elsewill go back to society

Adaptedftom The Gua ian lleekly


June2012
(452words)

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