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In Norway, there is no death penalty, and the longest sentence is only 21 years. Is there so much state welfare in Norway that the prisons are built unexpectedly!
Construction took 10 years and covers 300,000 square meters with over 450 acres of woods, a church, gym, activity room, clinic, library, greenhouse ...... This is not an upscale residential community, but Norway's national prison, Halden Prison.
Every 10 to 12 cells share a kitchen and living room where prisoners can enjoy dinner and relax after a long day's work. In Halden, the windows are not even barred.
To reduce the psychological stress of being incarcerated, the prison's planners spent about $1 million on painting, photography, and lighting facilities. At Halden, the cells contain tiled bathrooms, mini-fridges and flat-screen TVs. Department officials say the more rounded and generous the appearance of the TV, the less room for inmates to hide contraband.
To help inmates develop a routine and reduce the monotony of incarceration, the designers made living quarters, work areas and activity centers available throughout Halden Prison. Prisoners can experience how a flower blooms in a greenhouse.
Halden's architects preserved more than 450 acres of woods to cover the six-meter-high fence that surrounds it, reducing the feeling of being in prison and, in the words of one architect, "allowing each prisoner to see the seasons." Benches and stone chessboards dot the side of this jogging path.
The library here is filled with reading material from a variety of disciplines and looks like a book bar with style so that the inmates can keep up with the outside world and not be cut off from it.
The supermarket is filled with a wide range of goods, not much different from the convenience stores outside. Both prison staff and inmates can come here to shop for their favorite food.
Whether the inmates are good at rough work or fine work, they can find their own space to play here. The prison also has a wood workshop where inmates can express their creativity, which the prison management hopes will make them feel "valued".
Norwegian prisoners have lost their right to freedom, but not their civil rights, such as health care. Dentists, doctors, nurses, and even librarians provide services in the prison so that the prisoners are not treated less than average. Halden has a small hospital as well as a state-of-the-art dental clinic. Seeing this makes you wonder: this is a luxury hotel, not a prison!
