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Negotiating Imperfect Humanity in the Danish Penal System

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Scandinavian Penal History, Culture and Prison Practice

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

Abstract

American prison experts are increasingly looking to Europe, and especially to Nordic countries, for examples of a better prison system. In 2014, a retired New York State Prison warden visited Norway’s Halden prison, and a video of the warden’s shock at seeing the tools and knives to which prisoners had access went viral on the Internet in the United States (Sterbenz 2014). In 2015, the Vera Institute of Justice, an American think tank focused on criminal justice issues, led a group of prison scholars, policy makers, and wardens on a tour of European prisons. Upon their return, two of these scholars published an opinion piece in the New York Times lauding the values of dignity and rehabilitation they saw in action in German prisons especially (Turner and Travis 2015). Although Americans (and Brits) are both shocked and impressed by the humane prison conditions they see in prisons in Germany and Scandinavia, they are also quick to acknowledge the influence of differing social contexts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One example that affirms we were able to accomplish what was intended along these lines is one particular interview with a prisoner at the open prison. At the end of the interview, the respondent told of a group that recently visited the facility from South Korea “doing some kind of movie or research as well, some weeks ago.”

    Respondent::

    And they actually—they instructed the inmates on what to do in the movie, and act. And could you please look like you’re reading this book now? But it’s not the same that you are doing. Like, it felt like they had all the answers, and they just needed to bag it up with material.

    Interviewer::

    Oh. And what does this feel like.

    Respondent::

    It feels like- stupid. I don’t know. But they- Yeah. They had the conclusion before coming here.

    Interviewer::

    And does this feel- Does this feel the same way?

    Respondent::

    No, not at all.

    Interviewer::

    How does this feel?

    Respondent::

    Well, you’re just asking a lot of questions.

  2. 2.

    Unrecorded conversation with guard, captured verbatim to the best of our ability in field notes.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1455971, 1455413, 1455091.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, Law & Society and at the School of Law at the University of California, Irvine, USA

    Keramet Reiter

  2. Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Missouri, USA

    Lori Sexton

  3. Department of Public Administration at California State University, Dominguez Hills, California, USA

    Jennifer Sumner

Authors
  1. Keramet Reiter
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  2. Lori Sexton
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  3. Jennifer Sumner
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Correspondence to Keramet Reiter .

Editor information

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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Reiter, K., Sexton, L., Sumner, J. (2017). Negotiating Imperfect Humanity in the Danish Penal System. 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_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58529-5_20

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58528-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58529-5

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