15 Images That Prove Norwegian Prisons Are As Good As Some Of The Best Hotels

Prisons have a very negative vibe attached to them.

When you picture them, you imagine a place that is closed and dingy with the worst of the criminals suffering in cramped cells, eating horrible food and killing each other during chow time.

Prisons are the location equivalent of a punishment – for criminals who did wrong to the society. Hard labor, isolated cells, bad food and no entertainment whatsoever.

But what if prisons were meant to rehabilitate rather than punish criminals. To make them see the wrong by being good to them, rather than dole out punishment.

Norwegian prisons are famous for being the most humane prisons in the world. They go beyond their way to make the conditions for even the worst of the prisoners comfortable.

1. Just for the record – the Halden Prison is a maximum security prison

 

2. That means it holds murderers, rapists, and pedophiles.

 

3. For starters, there are no bars to hold them in – on doors or windows.

 

4. The cells are made as homely as possible because after the sentence the prisoners can go back to society without missing anything.

 

5. That means they are equipped with flat screen TVs, mini fridge, computer and even video games

 

6. For every 12 prison cells, there is a living room and a kitchen where the inmates make their own meals

 

7. They have a recreation room where they can play basketball, rock climbing and have a jogging track and football field

 

8. They also have a state of the art music recording studio

 

9. Music and cooking classes are also offered and they are offered 7 euros if they stay outside the cells and take part in the activities

 

10. There is also a guesthouse for when the families visit, and one special bedroom for conjugal visits by their girlfriends and wives

 

11. They are focused on making the prisoners rehabilitate, rather than punish them, and hence, the guards also play with the prisoners.

12. That is why their prison systems are one of the best in the world – with only 20% of the criminals rearrested. In comparison, UK has a rate of 45% and the US a whopping 76%.

 

13. Their philosophy is simple – you do not take anything away from the prisoner except their liberty. They keep the prisoners engaged in healthy activities, keeping them out of their cells, where they can get lonely and negative. And this is why they have such great success rates.

14. And why won’t they? Inmates will finally realize that liberty comes at a cost – the cost of being a decent human being and even if you live in a perfect world inside a prison, it is not the same as living out there in freedom where you can see your loved ones wherever you want, whenever you want.

 

15. Where you can go to any place without anyone checking up on you.

And the prisoners can think of this when they are in a completely positive state of mind.

With nothing taken away from them, and with the assurance that the state still sees them as human beings and nothing less than that.

Cover Image Source 1, 2