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Normalisation in Nordic Prisons—From a Prison Governor’s Perspective

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Scandinavian Penal History, Culture and Prison Practice

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

Abstract

The concept of normalisation—or normality—has been used to an ever-increasing extent in prisons policies since the 1970s in the Nordic countries, and gradually also in many other countries. It is not an unambiguous concept. In this article, I will offer my proposal for a common Nordic definition of the concept based on relevant Nordic sources of law. My approach to this subject is characterised by practical experience from my position as Prison Governor combined with my ongoing theoretical work with prisons.

I am grateful to Berit Johnsen, Doris Bakken, Lone Andersen, Yngve Hammerlin, Thomas Ugelvik and Peter Scharff Smith, who have read the manuscript and made useful comments and suggestions that enriched the final text.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I have more than 40 years of practical experience from serving with the Prison and Probation Service in Denmark and the Correctional Service of Greenland. For almost 30 years of this period, I have been the Prison Governor of several Danish prisons. My theoretical work comprises several years as an associate professor of criminal law at the Faculty of Law of Copenhagen University and close collaboration with lawyers, criminologists and other professionals in the Nordic countries.

  2. 2.

    Report No. 1181/1989 on a sentence enforcement act, etc. (Betænkning nr. 1181/1989 om en lov om fuldbyrdelse af straf mv.), p. 105.

  3. 3.

    Sweden: The Government’s Bill No. 1997/98:105, p. 6. Norway: Report to the Storting (stortingsmelding) No. 37 (2007–08), p. 9.

  4. 4.

    Chapter 1, Section 3, of the Finnish Imprisonment Act (fängelselag) (767/2005).

  5. 5.

    Chapter 1, Section 3, of the Finnish Imprisonment Act (fängelselag) (767/2005).

  6. 6.

    Geographically, Greenland belongs to Northern America, but being part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Greenland is considered part of the Nordic countries in many contexts.

  7. 7.

    Section 172 of the Greenland Criminal Code (kriminallov).

  8. 8.

    See Section 4 of the Danish Sentence Enforcement Act (lov om fuldbyrdelse af straf). The Greenland Criminal Code has traditionally had much greater focus on rehabilitation as compared with the criminal codes of the other Nordic countries. Concepts like punishment and prison are not used at all. Instead, ‘measures’ and ‘institution for offenders’ are the concepts used in Greenland.

  9. 9.

    Chapter 1, Section 6, of the Swedish Act on Imprisonment (fängelselag) (2010:610).

  10. 10.

    Section 19 of the Executive Order on Sentence Enforcement (bekendtgørelse om fuldbyrdelse af frihedsstraf) of 21 June 1973.

  11. 11.

    Section 22 of the Execution of Sentences Act No. 49/2005 (lög um fullnustu refsinga).

  12. 12.

    As expressed by Marianne Vollan, Director General of the Directorate of the Norwegian Correctional Service (Kriminalomsorgen). See: http://ebladet.kriminalforsorgen.dk/default.aspx?ID=2312%26ProductID=PROD161 (25 June 2015). See also Bronebakk (2012, p. 48).

  13. 13.

    Section 4 of the Execution of Sentences Act (straffegjennomføringslov).

  14. 14.

    Director General of the Department of the Correctional Service with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Justits- og beredskapsdepartementet) from 2003 to 2009. Worked on a PhD thesis on The Principle of Normalisation in Norwegian Prisons until her death in 2012.

  15. 15.

    Italics added.

  16. 16.

    Report to the Storting (stortingsmelding) No. 37 (2007–08), p. 9.

  17. 17.

    Golder v. the United Kingdom, 21 February 1975 (4451/70), § 44.

  18. 18.

    See, for example, Campbell and Fell v. the United Kingdom, 28 June 1984 (7819/77; 7878/77), § 69.

  19. 19.

    See, for example, Hirst v. the United Kingdom (No. 2) [GC], 6 October 2005 (74025/01), § 69.

  20. 20.

    Recommendation Rec(2006)2 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the European Prison Rules (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 11 January 2006 at the 952nd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies).

  21. 21.

    Rule 5.

  22. 22.

    Ministers’ Deputies CM Documents, CM(2005)163 Addendum, 2 November 2005. 949 Meeting, 1 December 2005. 10 Legal questions. 10.2 European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC)—a. Draft Recommendation Rec(2005)…of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the European Prison Rules and Commentary.

  23. 23.

    Reference is made particularly to the interpretation made by the European Court of Human Rights and to the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).

  24. 24.

    Rule 2.

  25. 25.

    Rule 102.2.

  26. 26.

    ‘Democracy’ is a word with positive connotations used in this context in its constitutional meaning to express partly that the prison regime is governed by law and adopted by a parliament elected by the people, partly that prison inmates have the same fundamental civil freedoms as other citizens.

  27. 27.

    At that time Deputy Director-General, subsequently Director-General of the Danish Prison and Probation Service 1998–2013.

  28. 28.

    www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2004/10/21/412032.html (21 October 2004).

  29. 29.

    www.kriminalomsorgen.no/etikk-straff-og-fremtidens-kriminalomsorg.3127443-237613.html (4 December 2007).

  30. 30.

    Report No. 1442/2004 on the judicial system of Greenland, p. 1056.

  31. 31.

    Quote from Korn and McCorkle (1959, p. 474).

  32. 32.

    Report No. 683/1973 on education, vocational training and leisure time activities for inmates of the institutions of the prison service (Betænkning nr. 683/1973 om undervisning, erhvervsuddannelse og fritidsaktiviteter for indsatte i fængselsvæsenets anstalter), p. 15.

  33. 33.

    A Medium Svensson is the designation used by Statistics Sweden (Statistiska Centralbyrån) for an average Swedish citizen.

  34. 34.

    Hirst v. the United Kingdom (No. 2) [GC], 6 October 2005 (74025/01).

  35. 35.

    See, for example, Report No. 1334/1997 on public meals in Denmark (Betænkning nr. 1334/1997 om offentlig kostforplejning i Danmark), p. 56.

  36. 36.

    Report No. 1181/1989 on a sentence enforcement act, etc. (Betænkning nr. 1181/1989 om en lov om fuldbyrdelse af straf mv.), p. 134.

  37. 37.

    Ministers’ Deputies CM Documents, CM(2005)163 Addendum, 2 November 2005. 949 Meeting, 1 December 2005. 10 Legal questions. 10.2 European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC)—a. Draft Recommendation Rec(2005)…of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the European Prison Rules and Commentary.

  38. 38.

    Jankovskis v. Lithuania (21575/08).

  39. 39.

    See, for example, De Hert and Kloza (2012).

  40. 40.

    In some connections referred to as ‘law enforcement’.

  41. 41.

    Section 1-2 of the Norwegian Regulations to the Execution of Sentences Act on possibilities of social reintegration (forskrift til lov om straffegjennomføring) and Section 3-4 of the Act on placement in open prisons.

  42. 42.

    Section 59 of the Danish Sentence Enforcement Act (straffuldbyrdelseslov).

  43. 43.

    Report No. 1181/1989 on a Sentence Enforcement Act, etc. (Betænkning nr. 1181/1989 om en lov om fuldbyrdelse af straf mv.), p. 123.

  44. 44.

    See, for example, Handyside v. the United Kingdom, 7 December 1976 (5493/72), § 49, and Yankov v. Bulgaria, 11 December 2003 (39084/97), § 129(i).

  45. 45.

    Section 24 of the Norwegian Execution of Sentences Act (straffegjennomføringslov).

  46. 46.

    To mention an example, four inmates and two correctional officers went reindeer hunting for five days in September 2014 in the mountains of Sisimiut. They brought home 14 reindeers.

  47. 47.

    Report No. 1181/1989 on a Sentence Enforcement Act, etc. (Betænkning nr. 1181/1989 om en lov om fuldbyrdelse af straf mv.), p. 105.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Former Chief Executive, Correctional Service of Greenland, Denmark

    Hans Jørgen Engbo

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  1. Hans Jørgen Engbo
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Correspondence to Hans Jørgen Engbo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Peter Scharff Smith

  2. Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Thomas Ugelvik

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Engbo, H.J. (2017). Normalisation in Nordic Prisons—From a Prison Governor’s Perspective. In: Scharff Smith, P., Ugelvik, T. (eds) Scandinavian Penal History, Culture and Prison Practice. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58529-5_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58529-5_14

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