PHOTOS OF NORWAY’S PRISONS: CONTEXT
Almost without exception, photographs of prisons in Norway featured in international media over the past two years have appeared below a headline featuring the word “luxury” or in simplified articles about the relative comfort of Norwegian prisons. The implication? That no criminals should live in safe, clean, environments and that rehabilitation is folly at best and an insulting waste of taxpayers money at worst.
I’d like to recommend a different take. Six of Fin Serck-Hanssen‘s photographs from Normalising Judgement appear throughout this post.
Serck-Hannsen’s view is neither expressly bleak nor expressly sugary. These drab prisons are nothing to get overly-emotive about and as such probably reflect fairly the predictable life in highly-managed institutions that try to redirect the most antisocial adult behaviours. As you click through to the links included herein, please refer back to Serck-Hanssen’s Normalising Judgement to challenge the “rosy” picture that…
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The Prison Enquirer 
Although humane conditions in prison are a start, more is needed to really spur rehabilitation. Unfortunately “more” requires resources and if the public’s position is that punishment is the way to go–supported by heinous crime stories in the media and politicians playing the fear card for easy votes–then the necessary resources will not be there.
Thanks for the comment, Joanne! I agree with you to an extent, but I also think that throwing money at a problem is not always the answer. For example, most if not all prison staff would love to have a state of the art camera system recording every space; however, if someone is not effectively monitoring those cameras, they are useless. I have seen plenty of waste in corrections, and I actually believe that a lot more could be done if there was effective oversight and staff accountability. My home state, Ohio, is actually making that happen a lot more, which is great – I doubt the same is true everywhere, though.