Halden Prison

Located in Halden, Østfold, Norway,[2] Halden Prison was built for over 10 years at a cost of 1.5 billion Norwegian kroner ($252 million/£138 million/€150 million).[3][4] The prison received its first inmates on March 1, 2010[5] and was officially opened on April 8 by the Norwegian King Harald V.[6] It is Norway's second-largest prison[7] with a capacity of 248–252 prisoners[lower-alpha 1] and a site of 75 acres (30 ha).[3]

As a maximum-security prison,[7] it hosts both dangerous and highly dangerous criminals,[11] such as rapists, murderers, and child molesters.[4] They compose half of the population, while a third of the residents are drug offenders.[1] 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.[1][4] There is also a special unit (C8) focused on addiction recovery.[1] Most inmates live in Units B and C, which are freer and have mixed cell blocks.[1] Halden Prison receives both domestic and international criminals; as only around three-fifths of the prisoners are Norwegians (as of 2015),[1] both Norwegian and English are used, and the prison has English teachers.[4] However, fluency in Norwegian is a requirement to live in C8, because group and individual counseling is conducted in Norwegian.[1]

There are no conventional security devices, such as barbed tape, electric fences, towers, or snipers.[1] However, there is safety glass,[10] a 6 m × 1,500 m (20 ft × 4,921 ft) concrete and steel wall,[7][10] and a system of tunnels which guards use to walk through the prison.[7] 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.[1] While there is little violence reported, almost exclusively in Unit A, officers try to prevent it.[1] If two inmates have a dispute, they engage in a mediation session under staff supervision.[1] If mediation fails, repeated misbehavior or rule violations are punished with cell confinement or prison transference.[1][12]

A wall in the courtyard graffitied by Dolk

The prison was designed by the Danish group Erik Møller Architects and the Norwegian HLM Arkitektur AS,[13][14] selected in a competition held by the Department of Justice and the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property to determine the designers of the building.[1][15]

With a focus on rehabilitation, it was designed to simulate a village so that the prisoners can consider themselves part of society.[7] The government believes that "the smaller the difference between life inside and outside the prison, the easier the transition from prison to freedom."[7] Interiors are painted and designed to demarcate the differences between home, school, and the workplace.[16] In designing the prison's interiors, the architects tried to separate the internal buildings to have prisoners walking, to strengthen their bond with the outside world.[1] The hallways are tiled with Moroccan tiles or have large-scale photographs, such as daffodils or Parisian streets.[4]

Exteriors are composed of bricks, galvanized steel, and larch wood, instead of concrete.[7] The black and red kiln-fired bricks were inspired by the trees, mosses, and bedrock of the surroundings.[1] Natural life, including birch, blueberry, and pine trees, also contribute to rehabilitation.[1][12] The steel, a "hard" material, symbolizes detention, while the larch, a "soft" material, stands for rehabilitation and growth.[1] The yard walls and toilet doors are decorated by a graffiti painting by the Norwegian artist Dolk,[15] which was ordered by the prison from its 6 million kroner ($1 million/£640,000) art budget.[4][7]

All aspects of the prison's design aim to avoid psychological pressures, conflicts, and interpersonal friction.[1] Despite this, the prison wall was designed for security.[1] As the wall is visible everywhere, it was seen as a "symbol and an instrument" of "[the prisoners'] punishment, taking away their freedom", according to Gudrun Molden, one of its architects.[1]

Each prison cell is 10 square metres (110 sq ft) and has a flat-screen television, desk, mini-fridge, toilet with shower, and unbarred vertical window that lets in more light.[3][4][12] Every 10–12 cells share a common area with a kitchen and a living room;[3][17] the kitchen has stainless steel silverware, porcelain plates, and a dining table, and the living room has a modular couch and a video game system.[1][17][18] While the prison provides food, the prisoners can also buy ingredients at its grocery shop and cook their own meals.[1][4] Inmates are locked in their cells twelve hours a day, but they are encouraged to maximize their time outside.[7][12] Prisoners have an incentive of 53 kroner ($9/£5.60) a day to leave their cells.[4][19] Are Høidal, the prison's governor, stated that the fewer activities the prisoners have, the more aggressive they become.[4] There is an "Activities House",[10] and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m, there are practices on jogging trails and a football field, while wood working, cooking, and music classes are also offered.[3][7] At the mixing studio, the inmates may record music and a monthly program broadcast by the local radio station.[4] A library with books, magazines, CDs and DVDs; a gym with a rock-climbing wall; and a chapel are also available.[12][18][20] Prisoners even receive questionnaires asking how their prison experience can be improved.[3]

Inmates are allowed to receive their families, partners, or friends privately twice a week for two hours.[21] Individual rooms containing a sofa, sink, and cupboard with sheets, towels, and condoms are available for single-person visits.[21] For those with families, a larger room with toys and baby-changing facilities is available.[21] Inmates are checked after visits, and if illegal items are found, prisoners can lose their rights to private visits.[21] This right is denied to high risk criminals and visitors with histories of drug offenses.[21] There is also a separated, chalet-style house where prisoners can receive visits from family members and stay with them for 24 hours.[3][4][21] The house has a small kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room with a dining table, a sofa, and a television, as well as an outdoor play area with toys.[21] Foreigners are not allowed in and inmates have to complete a child-development education program to have 24-hour-long visits.[21] During visits, staff make regular checks on the prisoners and their families.[21]

As of 2012, Halden had 340 staff members, including teachers, healthcare workers, personal trainers, and guards (who also work as social workers due to their 2 year course that they have to take before becoming a guard).[4][22] The philosophy of "dynamic security", which encourages the staff and the inmates to develop interpersonal relationships, helps prevent potential aggression and guarantees safety.[1] Guards eat meals and play sports with the inmates, and are typically unarmed because guns can produce intimidation and social distance.[3] The interaction between prisoners and the staff is designed "to create a sense of family," according to architect Per Hojgaard Nielsen,[7] and because the staff can be role models to help the inmates to recreate their sense of daily routine, for application outside of prison walls once their sentence is over.[10] Half the guards are women, as Høidal thinks it minimizes aggression.[3] The guard stations were also designed to be tiny and cramped, to encourage officers to interact more with the inmates.[1]

Halden city's inhabitants view the prison as a chance to find employment rather than a bad thing.[7] Nina Margareta Høie of the web magazine The Nordic Page stated that the prison is "known for having the most humanly conditions in Europe,"[23] while William Lee James of Time and Amelia Gentleman from The Guardian called it the world's "most humane prison."[3][4] The BBC reported that the design of Scottish prison HMP Grampian was inspired by Halden.[24] Architect group Bryden Wood, which are the team responsible for the redesign of HMP Wellingborough, looked after Halden as they considered it one of "world-leading examples" of how a rehabilitation-focused prison should be.[25]

In 2010, Halden Prison was shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival Awards,[26] and its interior design earned the Arnstein Arneberg Award.[2][27] In 2014, as part of Wim Wenders' 3D documentary series Cathedrals of Culture, Michael Madsen directed a short film exploring how the prison's design and architecture influence the re-socialization process.[28][29] That same year, another film on Halden Prison was produced: The Norden, a television film produced by the Finnish Broadcasting Company, explored the reactions of James Conway, a former superintendent at New York's Attica Correctional Facility, during a prison tour.[30][31] Conway affirmed: "This is prison utopia. I don't think you can go any more liberal — other than giving the inmates the keys."[31] In his 2015 documentary Where to Invade Next, filmmaker Michael Moore presented Halden Prison as an example of how the USA should manage its prison system.[32]

However, the conservative, right-wing populist Progress Party has criticized Halden Prison.[7][11] When foreigners in Norwegian prisons increased from 8.6 percent in 2000 to 34.2 percent in 2014,[33] Per Sandberg, former deputy leader of the party, attributed this to "Halden's high standard", arguing that Halden's facilities should be reserved for Norwegian citizens.[7] The party also contended that Halden's quality of life is "better than in many nursing and retirement homes".[11] British Channel 5 broadcast a 45-minute documentary about Halden titled World's Most Luxurious Prison in November 2020.[lower-alpha 2] It was presented by conservative politician Ann Widdecombe, who mostly criticized it and said a prison should not be like "normal life".[35]

• Bastøy Prison
• Egalitarianism
• Haren Prison, a large modern prison on the edge of Brussels that opened in 2022.
• List of countries by incarceration rate

• Official site (in Norwegian)