1. documents Legislation Policy The Norwegian correctional service
execution of sentence act 2002
Policy
«Punishment that works – less crime - a safer society»
Report to the Storting on Norwegian correctional services 2008
Good morning dear audience
My name is Øyvind Alnæs – thank you for the invitation
I m invited to talk about the Norwegian correctional service
First I want to point out the two docments wich is the frame for the corectional service in Norway

2. The Norwegian correctional service organisational hierarchy
Ministry of Justice and Public Security
Department of
Correctional services
Central
level
Directorate of Norwegian Correctional Service
5 Regional offices
Regional level
This is how the service is organized
Local
level
44 Prisons
+ Netherlands
4092 places
17 Probation Offices

3. Prison Numbers Average daily number of prisoners and
prison – population rate in some countries
N Rate
USA
Russian Fed
England & Wales
Bulgaria
Norway
Some numbers to compare. We dont have many prisoners in Norway. There is 5,2 mill people in Norway
Source: ICPS World Prison Brief, 2016
Facts and figures 3

4. Rehabilitation in legislation
Art. 4 in the Act on the Execution of Sentences:
“The Correctional Services shall by engaging in cooperation with other public services arrange for convicted persons and persons in custody on remand to receive the services to which they are statutorily entitled. Such cooperation shall lead to a coordinated effort to supply the needs of convicted persons and persons in custody on remand and to assist them to adjust to society.”
Art 4 in the Act on execution of sentences is about rehabilitation

5. Discretionary power in implementation Principle of normality
Central principles
Discretionary power in implementation
Principle of normality
Progression towards release
Reduce the use of prison sentence
Import of services
Rehabilitation
Central principles for the punishment, first pointed out in the report to the Storting called «punishment that works « from The principles will lead to a safer society
I will talk more about these principles now
(skjønnsmessig kraft i gjennomføringen)
Policy

6. Discretionary power in implementation
The punishment is the deprivation of liberty
Security: enough is enough
Security regime - no stricter than necessary
Principle of normality
A life as normal as possible
The basic thinkin in our model is that the punishment is the deprivation of liberty and that the Prison regime shall not be stricter than necessary.
It it is the lack of libertry wich is the punishment then your life else should be a normal as possible - this will reduse harmfull effects of serving sentence in prison
Necessary level of security
- High vs. low security
Reduce harmfull effects of loss
of liberty
Policy 6 6

7. A safer community High-security prison is necessary for some
Better rehabilitation is necessary for all
Punishment must come quickly
The aim is to build a safer community
Policy 7 7

8. Principle of normality
Loss of freedom is the punishment, have access to all other rights as citizens
Prison as training arena for mastery of life skills
Give inmates influence related to important decisions in their own lifes
living as close as possible to reality under guidance and training
work training
paying bills, buying food
residential training
participation in large-scale meetings and conflict mediation
This principle is about preparing the inmates for a life as ordenary citizens
Policy

9. Import of services
Medical, educational, employment, clerical and library services are provided from outside
Prisons do not have their own staff related to f.ex. medical service and education
These services have their own organizational structure, but are incorporated in the prisons
Local and municipal service-providers deliver services for reintegration
better continuity
more and better cross-connections
in their budgets
the services are part of the rights of any inhabitant in Norway
Prisoners have the same right according to f.i. health care and education as anyone else
Norway uses the import model for educational and health services: no specific employees of their own, but local educational and health services come into the prison at specific times.
Policy

10. Inmate’s living conditions
Addiction
Low education
Unemployment
Homelessness
Below povertyline
60 %
40 %
80 %
65 %
Who are the prisoner ? Living conditions among prisoners is poor. This is vital knowledge according to serving sentence and rehabilitation
Policy 10 10

11. Reintegration/rehabilitation – individual approach
Focus on various aspects of rehabilitation work
Special groups of inmates need different rehabilitation measures
Current issues are health, housing, education, employment, reestablishment of relations and motivation for living a life without crime
Suitable content of reintegrative measures
Individual approach according to needs
The rehabiltation work have an individual approach and try to meet the prisoners poor living conditions
Policy

12. Progression towards release the seemless penal system
Better progression in the penal implementation makes for better rehabilitation
Progression through a sentence
High security prisons
Lower security prisons
Halfway houses
Probation offices
A seemless system is the goal so the transfer from high security to more open facilities goes smoothly
The progression is also about - regulations for leave, more parental guidance, more phone / visits / internet, better visiting facilities
Policy

13. Reduce the use of prison
Use of alternative measures to prison
community service and split sentences
detox programmes under court control (drug-court)
home detention (no EM)
electronic monitoring
serving in a treatment institution
Less use of traditional prison prevent less crime
Policy

14. Public accept R E T R I B U T I O N G E N E R A L P R E V E N T I O N
S P E C I A L P R E V E N T I O N
I N C A P A C I T A T I O N
R E H A B I L I T A T I O N
Rehabilitation
Retribution
General prevention
Incapacitation
Special prevention
Survey from 2007 among the population of Norway. One could cross off more than one answer to the question. Rehabilitation was mentioned most often as a goal for punishment of offenders. Special prevention had the lowest score, so people do not seem to believe in deterrence at an individual level. This may of course be an expression of the feeling that prison is too soft.

15. Staff Ca. 3,600 fte working in prisons
Ca. 350 fte working in probation
Ca. 440 fte in Staff Academy and ICT-service
SOME 4600 PERSONS
The students at the correctional services staff academy, training to become prison officers, are regarded as employees and receive full payment during their training.
Staff 15 15

16. Prison officer training
Two-year education at academic level
Static and dynamic security work
Psychology, sociology, criminology, law, social work, moral philosophy, re-integration work
Conflict management, ethics and human rights, multicultural understanding
Post-training courses in various working methods and programmes
Salary during education
Written tests on application day: i.a. why do we punish? What does tolerance mean to you? Which social problems are you interested in?
Every year some 200 students are admitted from between 1200 and 2500 applicants.
The students is trained to be the inmates personal officer – this means that he or she have a exstra responibility to inform, follow up, motivate and guide the inmate trough the sentence.
Dynamic security is about knowing the inmate – understand who he is, how he react etc – then we can provide better security and better rehabilitation
Staff 16

17. Recidivism
Source: ”Retur”, Nordic Research Group, 2010 17

18. Thank you for your attention!
tel 18 18