Californian Reacts | How Norway's Prisons Are Different From America's - Treat them like HUMANS?

‘The most important thing is how we treat people’
Norway has developed a prison system that looks a bit different from that in the U.S., which has the world’s largest incarcerated population. More information about Halden Prison below!

-- Halden Prison --
(Norwegian: Halden fengsel) is a maximum-security prison in Halden, Norway. It has three main units and receives prisoners from all over the world. It has no conventional security devices. The second-largest prison in Norway, it was established in 2010 with a focus on rehabilitation; its design simulates life outside the prison. Among other activities, sports and music are available to the prisoners, who interact with the unarmed staff to create a sense of community. Praised for its humane conditions, Halden Prison has received the Arnstein Arneberg Award for its interior design in 2010 and been the subject of a documentary, but has also received criticism.

Located in Halden, Østfold, Norway, Halden Prison was built for over 10 years at a cost of 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner ($252 million/£138 million). The prison received its first inmates on March 1, 2010 and was officially opened on April 8 by the Norwegian King Harald V. It is Norway's second-largest prison with a capacity of 248–252 prisoners and a site of 75 acres (30 ha).

As a maximum-security prison, it hosts dangerous as well as highly dangerous criminals, such as rapists, murderers, and child molesters. They compose half of the population, while a third of the residents are drug offenders. Sex offenders, who may face violence from other inmates, and prisoners who require close psychiatric or medical supervision, are located in Unit A, a restrictive and separated area. There is also a special unit (C8) focused on addiction recovery. Most inmates live in Units B and C, which are freer and have mixed cell blocks. Halden Prison receives both domestic and international criminals; as only around three-fifths of the prisoners are Norwegians (as of 2015), both Norwegian and English are used, and the prison has English teachers. However, fluency in Norwegian is a requirement to live in C8, because group and individual counseling is conducted in Norwegian.

There are no conventional security devices, such as barbed tape, electric fences, towers, or snipers. However, there is safety glass, a 6 m × 1,500 m (20 ft × 4,921 ft) concrete and steel wall, and a system of tunnels which guards use to walk through the prison. Although there are surveillance cameras on the prison grounds, they are not present in the cells, the cell hallways, the common rooms, the classrooms, and most of the workshops. While there is little violence reported, almost exclusively in Unit A, officers try to prevent it. If two inmates have a dispute, they engage in a mediation session under staff supervision. If mediation fails, repeated misbehavior or rule violations are punished with cell confinement or prison transference

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#NorwayPrison #Norway #PrisonSystem

[californianreacts]

A little different today as we travel to Norway's Halden Prison with a focus on rehabilitation; its design simulates life outside the prison. I found this much more interesting than I would have thought, especially with how the current condition of prisons and the prison system is here in the US.
QUESTION for you and your Country --
1) As always, thought about Norway's Halden Prison? Works? Doesn't work? 2) How are prisons and the prison system in your country? Better? Worse?

[bobmalibaliyahmarley]

The problem is that the prison system in America is fundamentally and at it's core... a business. And a business wants to make money. And the prisons get more money, the more inmates.

[matarl]

a little fun fact but in norway the prison system is called "kriminalomsorg" which translate to Criminal Care.

[fosoren]

Norway used to have a lot of the same problems in the prisons as the US.

Riots, violence and even a couple of P. Os were murdered. So they decided to change the system and the changes seems to work...

[attesmatte]

The worst thing I've learned about ex convicts in the US (or at least in parts of the US, I know it's slowly changing) is that they're not allowed to vote. They have paid their debt to society, but still they aren't allowed to exercise their basic human right in a democracy, to freely vote in elections. That is so dehumanizing!

[Henoik]

Thanks for reacting! There are a lot of other videos going more in-depth on this topic, but this video is also quite good and it touches upon the most basic differences between the American and the Norwegian systems.

[darrellpowell]

Fact of life
"When you treat people like animals, they stay as animals. When you treat a person as human, they become better humans."
Good job Philip. Just catching up on your upload and reactions. Your becoming one of the best UK / US reaction Youtubers.
Take care and I hope your keeping safe.

[mynewname]

There was another delegation (like the one in the original video) from Minnesota (I think) which brought it back to their prison, and had a focus group where they tested this model out. It seemed to be working very well. They said that they wanted to continue doing it and expand it if the results were good, so hopefully it still is operational.

[maureenjones]

I think it's right to treat them as humans. It's probably the first time in their lives that they have been treated like a human!

[sirisolbar]

Hi, a Norwegian here:)
The Norwegian law of punnishment is actually built up from the USA's laws. One of the first thing that is said in the laws of punishments in the US is that a person shall NOT be punished in a inhumane way...so I find it really weird that the are treated like animals in the states. Which is probably why we don't have a death sentence or life time in prison (21 years are the max, however there are some exceptions), Currently we have one man in Norway that will sit his whole like in prison, and that is because he killed 77 people on July 22nd, 2011. And he is blocked off from everything called interactions, that aren't the guards or his lawyer.

Also, when it comes to how is put back into prison after the first 5 years of being free, the states are at around 60% while Norway is at around 20%. and I am 99% sure that those who are put back in prison in Norway, end up there because of drugs. It's a place where they're drug free and they get taken care off.

Loved the reaction btw :)

[Nikioko]

In Europe, prison inmates do not lose fundamental rights such as the right to vote. They are still considered citizens.

[danielpearson]

"The land of the free" has proportionally the least amount of free people

[FredrikHaugen]

The worst thing about seeing Americans react to this is how many reacts to how the prisoners live compared to how themselves in particular or Americans in general live. You get the feeling that living conditions for the greater amount of Americans is more third world than living in the richest country in the world.

[daghugowilhelmsen]

A famous song say"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to loose". A person who has nothing left to loose is ( can be ) a very dangerus person. I know that many dont like "Free stuf" but reality is that if you give people a chance to have something to loose they be less dangerus.

[silentdeath]

There is a prison in US doing some test. Don't remember where, but propably not to hard to find the YT video for it.
-The nordic country's have pretty much the same model all around, with minor diffirences, i suggest checking out a YT channel named The Nordic. They show a us prison warden (Attica prison i believe it was) around Halden prison and other prisons in nordic countrys. There you can see some of the diffirence.
They also show a LAPD chief i believe it was on police stations and show some fun diffirences.
- The warden in Halden prison traveled to the prison warden from the nordic episode mentioned above worked, bit long video, but interesting to watch, i enjoyed it atleast 😊
Some prisoners there was asked to design like a better prison, but keeping in mind they had to design a prison (don't remember exact words, but something like that)
Aft the end the halden prison warden said, take away the phones in your cell and you basicly got Halden prison

[Luredreier]

You might want to check out the youtube channel of a guy named Max Haddad.
He's been in prison before.
And he addresses both the US and Norwegian prison system from his point of view.

[oiaoia]

there's an episode on netflix' " world's hardest prisons" about this prison. Think it's s3.

[zaphrax]

A big part of the Norwegian prison system is what happens BEFORE you are sent to prison: The courts.
In Norway, the maximum penalty is 21 years, with a few exceptions. Some people who are simply too dangerous to be set free again can get an additional "holding" sentence on top of the regular penalty, which means that you have to be evaluated before you are set free, and if you don't pass, then your sentence can be extended periodically until you either die from old age, or is considered rehabilitated.

If you drive while drunk, you can get anywhere from 21 to 3 months in prison in the most serious cases, usually it's just a fine based on a percentage of your regular income.

If you rape someone, the penalty is maximum 10 year, if the rape involves intercourse, the maximum penalty is raised to 15 years.

If you murder someone, 1st degree murder, then the maximum penalty is 21 years.

If you murder a lot of people, then you will likely get that additional "holding" sentence I talked about. The same goes if you are a serial rapist or similar.

One of the biggest bank robberies committed in Norway happened in 2005, and a police officer was killed. The longest prison sentence in that case was 19 years in prison.

[mwlvranken]

Prisons in the US are privatized and they get paid a huge sum of money for each prisoner. And inmates are being used for cheap labor. It's all about making money and rehabilitation of inmates goes against their business program

[tomkirkemo]

And again I have to say..Halden is NOT a typical Norwegian prison! I have been there, and to Bastøy too, if anyone should watch a video about it. These are, again, not typical for the Norwegian prison system. I have worked, and still am, as a teacher in...6 different peisons. From low security to maximum. Rigth now I'm working in two, one low and one maximum security. Just saying... :)