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North Dakota's Norway Experiment
Can humane prisons work in America? A red state aims to find out.Source: Mother Jones
Late one night in October 2015, North Dakota prisons chief Leann Bertsch met Karianne Jackson, one of her deputies, for a drink in a hotel bar in Oslo, Norway. They had just spent an exhausting day touring Halden, the maximum-security facility Time has dubbed the worlds most humane prison, yet neither of them could sleep.
Halden is situated in a remote forest of birch, pine, and spruce with an understory of blueberry shrubs. The prison is surrounded by a single wall. It has no barbed wire, guard towers, or electric fences. Prisoners stay in private rooms with en suite bathrooms and can cook for themselves in kitchens equipped with stainless-steel flatware and porcelain dishes. Guards and inmates mingle freely, eating and playing games and sports together. Violence is rare and assaults on guards are unheard of. Solitary confinement is almost never used.
By this point, Bertsch had been in charge of North Dakotas Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which includes four adult prisons and one juvenile facility, for more than a decade, and Jackson had spent seven years as director of correctional practices. Theyd left Bismarck feeling pretty good about their system, which prided itself on its humane practices and commitment to rehabilitation. But now, sitting in the glassed-in bar of the Radisson hotel with its view of the Oslo fjord, Bertsch began to cry. Were hurting people, she said.
North Dakota prison officials Leann Bertsch, left, and Karianne Jackson aim to trim the long list of rules that get inmates into trouble into something more like the Ten Commandments. Andy Richter
It is worth noting that Leann Bertsch is no pushover. With her ivory skin, flaxen hair, and chiseled cheekbones, she comes across as stoic and cool. She grew up on a farm in the eastern part of the state and served 21 years in the National Guard (retiring as a major) and eight years as a state prosecutor. She has run the prisons in this deep-red state under three Republican governors, and she moonlights as president of the Association of State Correctional Administrators. No one who has met Leann or seen her in action would consider her a softie, says John Wetzel, the associations vice president and Pennsylvanias secretary of corrections. I would describe her as ballsy. Corrections has historically been a really misogynistic field, so when you see a woman in charge of a corrections system, and in charge of one of the more influential organizations in corrections, you know shes got to be strong.
But in Oslo that evening, Bertsch was uncharacteristically emotional. It was definitely one of those moments where youre rethinking everything, she recalls. I had always thought that we run a good system. Were decent. We dont abuse people. We run safe facilities with good programs. It was just like, How did we think it was okay to put human beings in cagelike settings?'
Halden is situated in a remote forest of birch, pine, and spruce with an understory of blueberry shrubs. The prison is surrounded by a single wall. It has no barbed wire, guard towers, or electric fences. Prisoners stay in private rooms with en suite bathrooms and can cook for themselves in kitchens equipped with stainless-steel flatware and porcelain dishes. Guards and inmates mingle freely, eating and playing games and sports together. Violence is rare and assaults on guards are unheard of. Solitary confinement is almost never used.
By this point, Bertsch had been in charge of North Dakotas Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which includes four adult prisons and one juvenile facility, for more than a decade, and Jackson had spent seven years as director of correctional practices. Theyd left Bismarck feeling pretty good about their system, which prided itself on its humane practices and commitment to rehabilitation. But now, sitting in the glassed-in bar of the Radisson hotel with its view of the Oslo fjord, Bertsch began to cry. Were hurting people, she said.
North Dakota prison officials Leann Bertsch, left, and Karianne Jackson aim to trim the long list of rules that get inmates into trouble into something more like the Ten Commandments. Andy Richter
It is worth noting that Leann Bertsch is no pushover. With her ivory skin, flaxen hair, and chiseled cheekbones, she comes across as stoic and cool. She grew up on a farm in the eastern part of the state and served 21 years in the National Guard (retiring as a major) and eight years as a state prosecutor. She has run the prisons in this deep-red state under three Republican governors, and she moonlights as president of the Association of State Correctional Administrators. No one who has met Leann or seen her in action would consider her a softie, says John Wetzel, the associations vice president and Pennsylvanias secretary of corrections. I would describe her as ballsy. Corrections has historically been a really misogynistic field, so when you see a woman in charge of a corrections system, and in charge of one of the more influential organizations in corrections, you know shes got to be strong.
But in Oslo that evening, Bertsch was uncharacteristically emotional. It was definitely one of those moments where youre rethinking everything, she recalls. I had always thought that we run a good system. Were decent. We dont abuse people. We run safe facilities with good programs. It was just like, How did we think it was okay to put human beings in cagelike settings?'
Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2017/07/north-dakota-norway-prisons-experiment/
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North Dakota's Norway Experiment (Original Post)
demmiblue
Jul 2017
OP
NeoGreen
(4,031 posts)1. watch Michael Moore's "Where to Invade Next"...
...and pay attention to the comparative statistics on prisons as well as the personal treatment of prisoners.
obamanut2012
(26,071 posts)2. kick and rec
7962
(11,841 posts)3. I'd like to see a comparison of the severity of crimes for those prisoners,
compared to the severity of crimes US prisoners commit. It seems as though the US, compared to most civilized countries, has criminals who often do things that arent even seen in the movies. Has Norway ever had a John Gacy? Dahmer? Other than Breivik, I cant think of any
Regardless, if you make a prison comfortable and relaxing enough there are many people who see that as a step up from their current situation.