Prisoners serving time at Bastoy prison in Kingdom of norway are more likely to be sunning themselves on a embankment or strolling through a pino forest than sitting in cramped prison cell. It'southward no surprise then, that Bastoy has been called the world's nicest prison.

Bastoy sits on a small island and is dwelling house to 115 prisoners. Some of the inmates have committed very serious and vehement crimes. Bastoy is the largest low-security prison in Kingdom of norway, but it's more customs than prison. Prisoners live in shared homes with their own bedrooms and shared facilities. They tin habiliment their own wearing apparel, visit the prison house shop, library or church.

In their spare time they can go fishing, play football game, or piece of work out at the gym. There's a movie room and a weekly agenda of courses, lectures, events and concerts. They fifty-fifty run the isle's ferry service, just nobody seems tempted to alter grade and make a break for freedom.

It couldn't exist more than dissimilar from the more traditional arroyo of harsh punishment for criminals. Not surprisingly critics say Bastoy is more a holiday military camp than a correctional facility. Only Norwegian government insist this softer approach is more than effective.

Prisoners can attend the church on the island

Image: Bastoy Prison

How does it piece of work?

The prison house demands a respectful relationship between prisoners, as well as with guards. Most of the prison officers leave the isle overnight. Prisoners are expected to take responsibility for themselves. Apart from one meal a day that'due south provided, the inmates feed themselves.

Bastoy is what Norway calls an "ecological prison house". Inmates work every day, disposed the horses and sheep, helping run the farm, or chopping down copse for fuel. They undergo grooming programmes, learning new skills in preparation for release.

"Life inside prison needs to resemble life outside, as much as security considerations and resources let," explained Gerhard Ploeg, senior adviser in the Norwegian Ministry of Justice in a New York Times opinion slice. "The more gradual the transformation from imprisonment to freedom, the amend the chances to prevent re-offending."

"But prisoners are required to take responsibility for their actions – past, present and hereafter. As well, we believe it is more effective for a person to desire to stay away from crime than for systems to try to scare them away from it." He adds: "Who would you rather accept every bit a neighbor?"

Kingdom of norway has the lowest reoffending charge per unit in Scandinavia. Two years afterwards release, merely twenty% of prisoners have been reconvicted. Past contrast, a study of 29 American states - America has the world's largest prison population - found a much college rate of reoffending.

Over l% of prisoners in the United States will be back in jail within three years of their release.

Norway also has a standing care policy, whereby everyone released from prison volition have admission to services to assistance them with housing, employment, and healthcare. This contact with community services begins well before they are released. For instance, they are allowed to first jobs on the outside 18 months before leaving the prison.

"Y'all are free, but you are not free," says one prisoner.

Prisoners work on the island's farm

Epitome: Bastoy Prison

Violent criminals

It's true that some of the inmates are inside for violent crimes, merely they don't begin their sentences in Bastoy. Prisoners have to apply to come to the island prison, having demonstrated a articulate willingness to change while serving time in more than traditional jails.

At that place is no such matter as a life sentence in Norway. The longest prison house sentence is 21 years, or 30-twelvemonth maximum sentence for crimes related to genocide, crimes against humanity or other war crimes.

The average sentence is around 8 months. More lx% of unconditional prison sentences are upwardly to 3 months, and almost 90% are less than a yr.

Prisoners can use the grounds for sports activities

Paradigm: Bastoy Prison

Co-ordinate to experts, longer prison house sentences don't provide a potent deterrent, and the link betwixt harsh penalty and reduction of crime is far from clear cutting.

The obvious question with a prison without walls or armed guards is the run a risk of escape. In 2015 one prisoner did just that, using a surfboard and a paddle. Only information technology's extremely rare. If defenseless, they will not be able to go dorsum to Bastoy.