Focusing on Humanity: Norway’s Incarceration System

As many people are aware, the United States has one of the largest prison systems in the world with the leading amount of incarcerated persons per capita. There are around 707 per 100,000 people in the prison system with a 77% recidivism (people who spend time in prison more than once) rate. According to the United State’s Bureau of Justice, the nation spends more than $80 billion annually for the 2.3 million incarcerated individuals. As the nation spends such a ghastly amount on this system, why does it have one of the highest recidivism rates in the world? 

This is due to many factors including but not limited to historic events linked to the prison system and racism, but for the purposes of this narrative we will be discussing the cultural factors, as I have done research about racism in the prison system but not nearly enough to do justice for it. However, what will be said is that without question the United States justice system is racist, therefore the prison system is racist and I believe that this should be discussed with urgency. This being said, as a disclaimer, this article will focus around cultural aspects that affect prison systems.

In comparison, there are other countries that have much smaller populations of individuals in prison and have much lower recidivism rates. One country with such traits is Norway. Norway has one of the smallest rates of incarcerated persons per capita with less than 4,000 of their country’s 5 million population incarcerated. Beyond this, Norway’s prison system has a recidivism rate of just 20%. This is one of the lowest in the world.

So why is there such a huge difference between the U.S. and Norway? To put it plainly, our two cultures view how we should punish people for crimes differently.

In Norway, the people and government believe that losing one’s freedom is punishment enough for a person’s crimes. Therefore, how their prison system is set up looks much different than in the United States and reflects their views.

For one, the goals for the people in prison are much different. The Prisoner Governor Arne Wilson at Norway’s Bastoy Prison explained, “In closed prisons we keep them locked up for some years and then let them back out, not having had any real responsibility for working or cooking. In the law, being sent to prison is nothing to do with putting you in a terrible prison to make you suffer. The punishment is that you lose your freedom. If we treat people like animals when they are in prison they are likely to behave like animals. Here we pay attention to you as human beings.”*

Thus, their approach is simple: rehabilitation to ensure that when these people leave the prison that they are reformed and have the tools to become better functioning members of society. To make sure this occurs, their prisons have certain qualities that can help their prisoners succeed in these goals.

For one, their guards are expected to interact with the prisoners frequently in a friendly manner. In order to become a guard, one is not only trained in de-escalation tactics, but more importantly goes to school for two years with a focus in social work so they can better help the prisoners in their rehabilitation.

Second, the prisoners are given opportunities to learn new skills. They can take workshops in a variety of subjects and fields that will help them when they eventually leave the system for reintegration into Norwegian society. One can even join vocational training in carpentry and other professions.

Finally, the only real thing taken away from them is their freedom due to the fact that the actual prison environments appear more similarly to a hostel or hotel. The prisoner’s cells aren’t much like cells at all, but more like dorm rooms where they can leave as frequently as they please. They are allowed most amenities that they choose such as movies, books, tvs, and other electronics. Each prisoner has their own bathroom attached to their rooms with normal toilets and showers. When one leaves their rooms, they have access to full kitchens (with everything that a typical kitchen has), laundry rooms, and recreational facilities where they are encouraged to socialize with guards. They cook all of their own meals and even have access to recording studios for music therapy. They are even allowed to wear their own clothes!

Norwegian Prison Cell (photo from CNN)

In short: Norway prisons treat their prisoners as they are: like human-beings. This is why they have such a low recidivism rate. However all of these things lead back to how Norwegians feel about punishment on a cultural level, which is that taking away one’s freedoms is enough of a punishment in their eyes.

The American prison system looks radically different to this because of how punishment is viewed on a cultural level. In the United States, people are much more concerned with making sure that individuals who have committed a crime are punished in the proper way, which many times means that these individuals must suffer in some capacity. Punishment first and rehabilitation is an afterthought. Many times, people use dehumanizing language when it comes to criminals because we view them in such a deplorable way. 

When one looks at some of the methods used in the United States prisons, one may question if these tactics are humane. Such as forcing people into solitary confinement with no access to outside light or any activities to keep the mind stable such as socializing with another person. The guards get only weeks of training and are expected to be met with violence from prisoners. The United States not only strips the prisoners of their freedom, but rights as a human being.

Needless to say, the United States has a lot to learn from Norway when it comes to their approach towards the incarceration of prisoners. 

This is not to suggest that the United States prison system can just change overnight to look more like how it does in Norway; there are too many complex factors playing into this. However, if the United States starts to take small moves towards Norway’s approach then one day their prisons could look more similar and become more focused on rehabilitation and have more humane practices. Not only could this lead to the government needing to spend less money on the system as a whole, but the country could benefit from having more contributing members of society.

*James, E. (2013, February 25). The Norwegian prison where inmates are treated like people. Retrieved February 10, 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/25/norwegian-prison-inmates-treated-like-people