Incarceration in Norway

Correctional facilities in Norway focus on maintaining custody of the offender and attempting to make them functioning members of society.

[5] Norway's laws forbid the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment as punishment.

Prison conditions typically meet international standards, and the government permits visits by human rights observers.

The system is considered to be transparent, and prisoners are represented by an ombudsman, an official appointed to investigate individuals’ complaints against public authority.

KROM's first substantive change to Norwegian penology occurred in 1970, with the abolition of forced labor.

In the 1980s, Norway still had a system focused on harsh punishment for criminals and a recidivism rate of approximately 60 to 70 percent.

The correctional system has a right to add other conditions, like the prohibition of drug or alcohol use, outside of court orders.

Additionally, sentences may be extended if a court rules that the inmate still poses a danger to society.

[citation needed] The intent of punishment in Norway is solely the restriction of liberty; no other rights are taken away.

Prison authorities try to place offenders in the lowest security regime commensurate with the inmate's needs.

Urine samples are collected, usually targeted at random within the population of inmates who have a known history of drug addiction.

The majority of prisons in Norway (60%) are closed; these facilities have walls and fences around the compound, and inmates are locked in and under the control of corrections officers.

Open prisons encourage contact with the community through safe means (i.e. visitation, furlough, and other adaptations).

[20] In 2018, the United Nations Committee against Torture criticised the "high rates of prolonged isolation" of prisoners in Norway, of which it stated, "amounts to solitary confinement".

[1] The World Health Organization (WHO) has also criticised the fact that the rate of suicide in Norwegian prisons is one of the highest in Europe.