Halden prison smells of freshly brewed coffee. It hits you in the workshop areas, lingers in the games rooms and in the communal apartment-style areas where prisoners live together in groups of eight.
A couple of hours after lunch the guards on Unit A (a quiet, separated wing where sex offenders are held for their own protection) bring inmates a tall stack of heart-shaped waffles and jam, which they set down on a checked tablecloth and eat together.
The other remarkable thing is how quiet the prison is. There isn't any enraged banging of doors - not least because the prisoners are not locked up much during the day.
The governor, Are Hoidal, is surprised when asked about figures for prisoner attacks on guards or prisoner-on-prisoner assaults. He says he can't remember the last time there was a fight.
Halden is one of Norway's highest-security jails, holding rapists, murderers and paedophiles. Since it opened two years ago, it has acquired a reputation as the world's most humane prison. It is the flagship of the Norwegian justice system, where the focus is on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
There was early speculation that Anders Breivik, on trial in Oslo for the murder of 77 people, might end up here, but that now looks unlikely.
AWARD FOR INTERIOR DESIGN
When Halden opened, it attracted attention globally for its design and its relative splendour. Hoidal lifts down from his office wall a framed award for best interior design, a prize given in recognition of the stylishness of the white laminated tables and tangerine leather sofas.
Every Halden cell has a flatscreen television, its own toilet and a shower, which comes with large, soft, white towels. Prisoners have their own fridges and huge, unbarred windows overlooking mossy forest scenery.
Creating an environment that was as un-prisonlike as possible was a priority for Hoidal and the prison's architects. We wanted to create normality ... The life behind the walls should be as much like life outside the walls as possible, Hoidal says.
This principle is governed in part by a key feature of the Norwegian sentencing system, which stipulates a maximum term of 21 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnY9Kxh2rP8
They have the nerve to call this a prison? Wonder how many commit crimes just to get in thisluxury hotel prison.
A couple of hours after lunch the guards on Unit A (a quiet, separated wing where sex offenders are held for their own protection) bring inmates a tall stack of heart-shaped waffles and jam, which they set down on a checked tablecloth and eat together.
The other remarkable thing is how quiet the prison is. There isn't any enraged banging of doors - not least because the prisoners are not locked up much during the day.
The governor, Are Hoidal, is surprised when asked about figures for prisoner attacks on guards or prisoner-on-prisoner assaults. He says he can't remember the last time there was a fight.
Halden is one of Norway's highest-security jails, holding rapists, murderers and paedophiles. Since it opened two years ago, it has acquired a reputation as the world's most humane prison. It is the flagship of the Norwegian justice system, where the focus is on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
There was early speculation that Anders Breivik, on trial in Oslo for the murder of 77 people, might end up here, but that now looks unlikely.
AWARD FOR INTERIOR DESIGN
When Halden opened, it attracted attention globally for its design and its relative splendour. Hoidal lifts down from his office wall a framed award for best interior design, a prize given in recognition of the stylishness of the white laminated tables and tangerine leather sofas.
Every Halden cell has a flatscreen television, its own toilet and a shower, which comes with large, soft, white towels. Prisoners have their own fridges and huge, unbarred windows overlooking mossy forest scenery.
Creating an environment that was as un-prisonlike as possible was a priority for Hoidal and the prison's architects. We wanted to create normality ... The life behind the walls should be as much like life outside the walls as possible, Hoidal says.
This principle is governed in part by a key feature of the Norwegian sentencing system, which stipulates a maximum term of 21 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnY9Kxh2rP8
They have the nerve to call this a prison? Wonder how many commit crimes just to get in this
