Norwegian Prison Research Articles

Freedom, so close but yet so far: The impact of the ongoing confrontation with freedom on the perceived severity of punishment

The severity of a particular sentence is often assumed to be reflected by its degree of liberty-restriction: a five-year prison sentence is considered more severe than a one-year prison sentence, and imprisonment is considered more severe than electronic monitoring. Yet, the relationship between the degree of liberty-restriction and the experienced severity is more complex. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two Belgian and two Norwegian prisons, and phenomenological interviews with electronically monitored offenders, this article argues that a lesser degree of liberty-restriction can result in a more painful experience of this liberty restriction, but still contributes to the offenders’ reintegration.

Web-based training in opinions of students from Norwegian and Polish prison service

The article describes essential observations and research analysis which resulted from joint actions between educators of penitentiary training centers in Poland and Norway. This is a summary of the report The effects of bilateral cooperation between Polish and Norwegian penitentiary education centers (Andersen et al., 2015). Training schemes in the prison services touch very peculiar areas of education, where there are not many researches describing this subject, and even fewer comparisons describing tasks and training models of two penitentiary systems. Thus this paper presents the research which is probably being the only one joint attempt of examining two systems of trainings for prison service in Poland and Norway. The general conclusion resulting from the researched material is that the use of e-learning in Norwegian penitentiary system trainings is backed up by greater experience which is obviously noticeable, while the respondents of both penitentiary institutions have the same and decent views about blended-learning.

Improving collaboration between professionals supporting mentally ill offenders

PurposeInterprofessional collaboration is necessary when supporting mentally ill offenders but little is understood of these interactions. The purpose of this paper is to explore prison officers’ perceptions of current and desirable levels of interprofessional collaboration (relational coordination (RC)) to understand how collaboration between these systems can be improved.Design/methodology/approachGittell’s RC scale was administered to prison officers within the Norwegian prison system (n=160) using an adaptation of the instrument in which actual and desired levels of RC are evaluated. This differentiates between prison officers’ expectations of optimum levels of collaboration with other professional groups, dependent on the role function and codependence, vs actual levels of collaboration.FindingsPrison officers reported different RC levels across professional groups, the lowest being with specialist mental health staff and prison doctors and highest with nurses, social workers and other prison officers. Significant differences between desired and actual RC levels suggest expertise of primary care staff is insufficient, as prison officers request much greater contact with mental health specialists when dealing with the mentally ill offender.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to limited literature on collaborative practice between prison and health care professionals. It questions the advisability of enforcing care pathways that promote the lowest level of effective care in the prison system and suggest ways in which mental health specialists might be better integrated into the prison system. It contributes to the continued debate on how mental health services should be integrated into the prison system, suggesting that the current import model used in Norway and other countries, may not be conducive to generating the close professional relationships required between mental health and prison staff.

High risk of overdose death following release from prison: variations in mortality during a 15-year observation period.

The time post-release from prison involves elevated mortality, especially overdose deaths. Variations in overdose mortality both by time since release from prison and time of release has not been investigated sufficiently. Our aims were to estimate and compare overdose death rates at time intervals after prison release and to estimate the effect on overdose death rates over calendar time. This 15-year cohort study includes all individuals (n=91 090) released from prison (1 January 2000 to 31 December 2014) obtained from the Norwegian prison registry, linked to the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry (2000-14). All-cause and cause-specific mortality were examined during different time-periods following release: first week, second week, 3-4weeks and 2-6months, and by three different time intervals of release. We calculated crude mortality rates (CMRs) per 1000 person-years and estimated incidence rate ratios (IRR) by Poisson regression analysis adjusting for time intervals after prison release, release periods and time spent in prison. Overdose deaths accounted for 85% (n=123) of all deaths during the first week following release (n=145), with a peak during the 2 days immediately following release. Compared with week 1, the risk of overdose death was more than halved during week 2 [IRR=0.43; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.31-0.59] and reduced to one-fifth in weeks 3-4 (IRR=0.22; 95% CI=0.16-0.31). The risk of overdose mortality during the first 6months post-release was almost twofold higher in 2000-04 compared with 2005-09 (IRR=0.53; 95% CI=0.43-0.65) and 2010-14 (IRR=0.47; 95% CI=0.37-0.59). The risk of overdose death was highest for those incarcerated for 3-12months compared with those who were incarcerated for shorter or longer periods, and recidivism was associated with risk of overdose death. There is an elevated risk of death from drug overdose among individuals released from Norwegian prisons, peaking in the first week. The risk has reduced since 2000-04, but is greatest for those serving 3-12months compared with shorter or longer periods.

“Fathers in Prison” program may create a basis for desistance among Norwegian prisoners

ABSTRACTThis article presents some of the results from an evaluation of the program Fathers in Prison, created for convicted fathers in Norway. The evaluation is based on interviews with participants at the start and end of the program, and at about six months after completion. The survey shows that participants became more concerned with their role as a father and felt that it conflicted with criminal activity. The program therefore appeared, in isolation, to change participants’ attitudes, but a lack of follow-up after conclusion appeared to weaken its effect.

Rehabilitation in Principle and Practice: Perspectives of Inmates and Officers

This article addresses rehabilitation, its conceptualisation by officers and inmates, and its expression in practice within a select Norwegian prison. It reports on findings from a qualitative interview-based research project conducted as a pilot study, whereby semi-structured interviews were conducted with inmates and officers at the prison. Furthermore, the authors examine the principle of rehabilitation as it follows from Norwegian law and assess how it is implemented in practice in a Norwegian prison. The preliminary findings from the study reveal factors—such as inmate isolation and mental health challenges, drug use, unequal treatment, and limited capacity and resources—that are impacting the effectiveness of what the prison has intended to achieve and ask for further research and discussion in this area.

The Relationship Between Prisoners’ Academic Self-efficacy and Participation in Education, Previous Convictions, Sentence Length, and Portion of Sentence Served

Prison education is an important aspect of adult education. The study investigated current participation in prison education, as well as previous convictions, sentence length, and the portion of sentence served as predictors of academic self-efficacy. Survey data derived from prisoners in all Norwegian prisons provided the empirical evidences for the analyses. A principal component analysis of a 40-item academic self-efficacy questionnaire revealed self-efficacy components in literacy, mathematics, ICT, and self-regulated learning. Educational participation had a positive influence on self-efficacy in both mathematics and self-regulated learning. Participants who reported no previous conviction scored higher than others did on self-efficacy in mathematics, self-regulated learning, and ICT. Furthermore, the results showed that perceived efficacy in ICT decreased with longer sentence length. Portion of sentence served was not significantly related to any of the four self-efficacy components. The findings are discussed with reference to a need for mastery experiences in prison and implications for policy and practice

Substance use and sociodemographic background as risk factors for lifetime psychotic experiences in a non-clinical sample

IntroductionPsychotic experiences (PE) are relatively common in the general population. PE is associated with mental health impairment and may be predictive of clinical psychosis. Substance use predicts PE, but the association is insufficiently understood, particularly the role of illicit substances. The purpose of this study was to describe PE (visual and auditory hallucinations and delusions of reference and persecution) in a population characterized by high levels of substance use and to investigate substance use and sociodemographic background characteristics as risk factors for PE. MethodsWe used data from the Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction Study (NorMA), a cross-sectional survey of 1499 individuals from Norwegian prisons. The outcome was one, two, three or four types of PE during the lifetime. The association between different variables and PE was investigated using multinomial logistic regression with three outcome categories: 0 PE, 1–2 PE and 3–4 PE. ResultsThe prevalence of lifetime PE was 53.7%. Several substances were strongly associated with PE: For cannabis, the adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR) of 1–2 PE was 2.78 (95% CI 1.89–4.10) and of 3–4 PE it was 4.36 (2.58–7.36). For amphetamine, the RRR of 1–2 PE was 3.26 (2.11–5.05) and of 3–4 PE it was 5.93 (3.72–9.46). For all variables, the association to PE was stronger with more types of PE. ConclusionsHigh levels of alcohol use, and lifetime use of cannabis, amphetamine and heroin were associated with PE. These effects were robust even when the substance use variables were adjusted against each other.This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Kriminalomsorgen: A Look at the World's Most Humane Prison System in Norway

Kriminalomsorgen, Norway’s corrections system, is described as the world’s most humane prison system. Kriminalomsorgen focuses on rehabilitation and reintegration as the primary purposes of prison, and implements these policies through the Principle of Normality, which mandates that life in prison should be as similar to life outside of prison as possible. Norwegians believe that prison’s sole punishment should be the loss of liberty, and that offenders continue to be entitled to all other rights and services that every other citizen receives. Bastoy Prison and Halden Prison stand out as two of Norway’s most famous prisons, renowned for their lavish amenities and services.Comparing the Norwegian prison system with the American prison system reveals stark differences. The Norwegian system is far more expensive, with the cost per prisoner three times higher than it is in the American system. However, the Norwegian system appears to do a much better job of reducing recidivism than the American system. Indeed, the rate of American recidivism is up to three times higher than the rate of Norwegian recidivism.Kriminalomsorgen is an impressive system that does many things well, but implementing a similar system in the United States would prove difficult. Firstly, Norway is a much different country than the United States, as Norway is a small, homogenous country with a low prison population while the United States is a large, heterogeneous country with a massive prison population. Thus, a system that succeeds in Norway might not necessarily succeed in the United States. Secondly, Kriminalomsorgen is expensive, so implementing it in the United States would create a heavy financial burden. Finally, American emphasis on punishment and retribution clashes with the rehabilitative ideals underpinning Kriminalomsorgen.

The ‘Short Addiction Program’: experiences from an intervention by the correctional services in Norway

Do participants in a short term training program in prison find that it helps them to cope with their addiction better than before? This article explores the effects of a pilot project conducted in two Norwegian prisons. The study is based on interviews with 16 participants. The data show that the program increased inmates’ motivation and provided them with better tools to deal with their addiction. The conclusion is therefore that this kind of program could be the first step towards enabling prisoners with addictions to cope better with the challenges involved.

Exploring prison drug use in the context of prison-based drug rehabilitation

Aims: The research on motivations and meanings associated with drug use in prisons has received little scholarly attention. Particularly, there are few studies analysing drug use in prisons from the perspective of both prisoners and prison officers, and in the context of prison-based drug rehabilitation. This article explores prisoners and prison staffs perceptions on why drug use occurs in prison. Methods: The data is derived from participant observation and qualitative interviews (N = 35) conducted during eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in two drug rehabilitation programmes in a closed Norwegian prison. Findings: Prison staff emphasises drug addiction and prisoners troubled life trajectories when explaining in-prison drug use. Prisoners, on the other hand, explain that drug use can be (a) a way to alleviate some of the pains of imprisonment; (b) an integral part of social life in prison; (c) a route to status in the prisoner community and (d) a defiant way to subvert institutional rules and expectations. Conclusions: Prison staff tends to privilege pre-prison characteristics when explaining prisoners’ drug use, whereas prisoners tend to privilege how the prison context motivates and give meaning to their drug use. Implications for penal policy and practice are discussed.

Rusmestringsenheter i norske fengsler – humane og eksepsjonelle?

Substance treatment units in Norwegian prisons - humane and exceptional? Background The treatment of prison inmates in the Nordic countries has been described as humane and welfare-oriented – often referred to as ‘Nordic exceptionalism’ Aim This study explores how key actors working in 13 substance treatment units in Norwegian prisons assess the responsibilities, working methods and goal attainment of these units, and how their descriptions fit the idea of a Nordic exceptionalism. Data and Method The data consists of qualitative interviews with 23 strategically selected informants of the specialist health care services and the correctional services. The interviews were analysed with the aid of systematic text condensation (STC). Results The results show that ‘rehabilitation’, ‘substance use treatment’ and ‘dynamic control’ are key topics for those who work in the substance treatment units. Overall, the informants describe the rehabilitation programmes in the units as intensive and as aiming to improve the inmates' living conditions and social and cognitive skills, and to promote their reintegration into society. Moreover, informants state that inmates in the substance treatment units receive treatment from specialist health care services, and that the idea of therapy permeates many aspects of these units' activities. Informants also state that they prioritise less repressive forms of control in the relationship to the inmates, and that these forms of control are favourable to rehabilitation. Conclusions The main pattern that emerges from this study supports that welfare orientation and ideas about therapy and rehabilitation are priorities in work with imprisoned substance users in substance treatment units. The control of inmates in these units is described as less repressive and favourable to rehabilitation. This pattern is not unambiguous, however, and the findings in this study may therefore help add nuances to the notion of Nordic exceptionalism.

Credit and Trust

Objectives: This study examines the use of credit, or “fronting,” in the illegal drug economy. We study how fronting affects transaction costs and insulates against law enforcement in drug distribution networks and what role fronting plays in the management of interpersonal network ties. The emphasis is on the cooperative dimension of credits. Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 68 incarcerated drug dealers in Norwegian prisons. Most were mid-level dealers (66 percent), dealing with many different drugs, but amphetamines were the main drugs distributed (38 percent). Using qualitative content analysis, we explore their perspective on the fronting of illegal drugs and associated practices in the illegal drug economy. Results: We find that dealers are generally skeptical toward fronting drugs, and accepting fronted drugs, but that this practice still is common. The main reason is that the practice secures a faster turnaround. Credits are embedded in social relationships both economically and socially. Previous social relationships are often a prerequisite, but fronting is also used to build trust. Conclusion: Although transaction cost economics captures the economic dimension of credit, insights from economic sociology and in particular the social embeddedness approach are necessary to understand the interplay between economic and social factors when drugs are fronted in the illegal economy.

The paradox of control: An ethnographic analysis of opiate maintenance treatment in a Norwegian prison

BackgroundOpiate maintenance treatment (OMT) is increasingly being offered in prisons throughout Europe. The benefits of OMT in prison have been found to be similar to those produced by OMT in community settings. However, prison-based OMT has been a controversial issue because of fear of the diversion of OMT medications and the development of black markets for prescription drugs such as buprenorphine and methadone. Prison-based OMT thus involves a delicate balance between the considerations of control and treatment. MethodsThis article reports on an ethnographic study of a prison-based OMT programme in a closed Norwegian prison. The data include field notes from eight months of participant observation in the prison as well as qualitative interviews with 23 prisoners and 12 prison staff. Midway through the fieldwork, the prison authorities established a separate unit for OMT-enrolled prisoners to reduce the widespread diversion of buprenorphine. This “natural experiment” is explored in the analysis. ResultsThe prison-based OMT programme was characterised by strict and repressive control to prevent the diversion of buprenorphine, and the control became even stricter after the establishment of the OMT unit. However, the diversion of buprenorphine increased rather than decreased after the establishment of the OMT unit. To understand this “paradox of control”, the article engages with theories of legitimacy, power and resistance. The excessive and repressive control was perceived as illegitimate and unfair by the majority of study participants. In various ways, many prisoners protested, confronted and subverted the OMT programme. The increase in buprenorphine diversion is interpreted as a form of collective resistance towards the perceived unfairness of the OMT programme. ConclusionThe article demonstrates that an unbalanced and control-dominated approach to prison-based OMT may have the opposite effect of what is intended.

The Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction Study - Design and Implementation of a National Survey and Prospective Cohort Study.

The Norwegian prison inmates are burdened by problems before they enter prison. Few studies have managed to assess this burden and relate it to what occurs for the inmates once they leave the prison. The Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction (NorMA) study is a large-scale longitudinal cohort study that combines national survey and registry data in order to understand mental health, substance use, and criminal activity before, during, and after custody among prisoners in Norway. The main goal of the study is to describe the criminal and health-related trajectories based on both survey and registry linkage information. Data were collected from 1,499 inmates in Norwegian prison facilities during 2013–2014. Of these, 741 inmates provided a valid personal identification number and constitute a cohort that will be examined retrospectively and prospectively, along with data from nationwide Norwegian registries. This study describes the design, procedures, and implementation of the ongoing NorMA study and provides an outline of the initial data.

Education for foreign inmates in Norwegian prisons: A legal and humanitarian perspective

This article discusses the right to education for foreign inmates in Norwegian prisons, with a particular focus on the group of inmates who lack a residence permit in Norway and could be expelled once their sentence is served. The viewpoint of the Norwegian criminal justice policy is that all inmates should have the same right to education as other citizens and residents in Norway. For the group without residence permit, however, it seems not fully clear what that right to education should entail. National law only provides access to the education system for those with a residence permit. In addition, International law is not fully clear on the content of the right to education for inmates. On this background, the article clarifies the right to education for foreign inmates, as it follows from national and international law. It pays specific attention to the prison as a specific context for the provision of education, and explains how the right to education relates to the law of the execution of sentences. Drawing from the ethical considerations of the penal system, and from legal principles of non-discrimination, the article eventually concludes that all foreign inmates who serve sentences of certain duration must be ensured access to education on an equal basis with other prisoners.

Recent trends in the availability and use of amphetamine and methamphetamine in Norway

BackgroundThere is a concern about methamphetamine use in Europe. Methamphetamine fatalities have recently occurred in Southern European countries. The aim of this study is to examine Norwegian methamphetamine trends in recent years, comparing different data sources. Material and methodsData about amphetamines were collected from five different sources; blood samples from drivers suspected of driving under the influence of drugs and apprehended by the police (during the years 2000–2012), urine samples from inmates in Norwegian prisons (during 2000–2012), post-mortem blood samples from medico-legal autopsies (2000–2012), drug seizures (1994–2012) and wastewater samples from a metropolitan/suburban population (2010–2012). ResultsThe number of cases where methamphetamine was detected has increased during the period studied for the driving under the influence cases, the samples from inmates and from forensic autopsies. The increase seems to be linear up to 2009–2010, with a subsequent stabilisation or even a decline in the market share of methamphetamine for the next few years. The number of methamphetamine seizures has risen from less than 1% in 2000 to approximately 66% in 2009, and a steady share around 60% have been seen between 2010 and 2012. Wastewater samples showed that the share of methamphetamine peaked in 2010–11, before falling. InterpretationIt is difficult to obtain reliable data on illicit drugs. Data from different populations might give indications of changes and trends, but are always prone to different biases. By comparing results from different data sources, a better knowledge of the illicit drug market might be obtained. All our data sources confirmed that methamphetamine became a more prevalent drug during the first decade of the new millennium in Norway, but since approximately 2009 the share of methamphetamine stabilised.

Iraqi Prisoners in Norway: Educational Background, Participation, Preferences and Barriers to Education

The article aimed to develop knowledge of the educational background, participation and preferences of Iraqi prisoners in Norwegian prisons and obstacles to participating in education. The study is based on interviews with 17 prisoners in three prisons. An important finding is that war and political unrest appear to have been significant causes for respondents to leaving education at various stages. As a result only half of them have as much as one final exam and only three respondents have a certificate of education. Even if the respondents want an education while in prison, and although education is offered in all prisons there is a lack of information about educational opportunities in an understandable language and long waiting time for a place at school. An implication of the study is that the criminal administration system and the educational authorities must take into account the multicultural reality by facilitating education and training offers accordingly.

Punished and isolated: disabled prisoners in Norway

Serving a sentence has two purposes in Norway; it is a punishment for a crime and it is considered as an opportunity for rehabilitation to prevent repeated crime. This presupposes that all prisoners have access to activities and common rooms in the prisons. Interviews with prisoners with hearing or mobility impairments showed that accessibility is a problem in many prisons. The experiences of prisoners with hearing or mobility impairment show that lack of awareness and preparedness for their situation causes isolation as well as a decline in physical and mental health. Some prisons had cells partially adapted for prisoners with disabilities – and these were mostly located in high-security units. A majority of Norwegian prisons have some experience with disabled prisoners, but there are no systems for knowledge accumulation or sharing within the Norwegian Correctional Service. Lack of accessibility also deprived some disabled prisoners of their legal right to progression of the conditions for serving their...

The relationship between prisoners' educational motives and previous incarceration, sentence length, and sentence served

The aim of this study was to examine Norwegian prisoners' educational motives, and how previous incarceration, sentence length, and sentence served influence such motives. Three motive categories emerged: future planning (Factor 1), social reasons and escapism (Factor 2), and competence building (Factor 3). Among prisoners who participated in education, longer sentence predicted high score on both Factor 1 and Factor 3. Also, with the greater proportion of sentence served, participants scored higher on Factor 3. Among non-participants, longer sentence predicted high score on Factor 3. Previous incarceration was not significantly related to the educational motives for either of the two groups.