An Open Prison!?!?

So today was my first study tour at DIS - and my Criminal Justice in Scandanavia class visited the Jyderrup State Prison here in Denmark. Now Jyderrup is what the Danes refer to as an "Open Prison"... and let me tell you what, they aren't kidding.

Open Prisons house about 80% of all Danish inmates with crimes from misdemeanors to drug offenses to murder who are serving up to 16 years, which as high as Danes go before life in prison. But the thing with open prisons is that the inmates can escape without much effort at all. In fact escaping would be a joke, as there's only a chain link fence surrounding the compound, and the front gate is left open during the day... not that they would need to escape, 98% of inmates at Jyderrup (Pronounced: UR - roup) get weekend leave every third weekend, and can leave from Friday afternoon to Sunday night.

None of this shocked me too much as I had read the literature on Open Prisons before we went, the objective of these places is to "Normalize" the process as much as possible so that when inmates return to society they can function as individuals- and there will be a lower recidivism rate (less repeat offenders). And I think it probably works, from the inmates we spoke to.

But some of the conditions in this prison were shocking (I wasn't allowed to take pictures on Prison ground):

1) An inmate in Denmark is given more freedom to smoke indoors than the average American restaurant go-er. (so much for the land of opportunity)
2) In the inmates' kitchen there were 6 or 7 huge meat carving knives on the walls. I mean there are murderers walking around in these "dorms" with access to 10 inch knives who could easily be in the town in 5 minutes or less... let's just say I don't think I'll be investing in real estate in Jyderrup any time soon.
3) The prison is undergoing a steroids crisis akin to Major League baseball in the late nineties, this winter they have implemented urine screening to curb the body builders. Last year's method was to put fewer weights in the weight room because the public thought the inmates were too bulked up.
4) Their dorm was a lot nicer than many college dorms I've been in; most inmates have their own room, complete with TV and telephone, oh and some have Playstation.
5) This one is just too much: They have not one, but TWO tanning beds. According to our inmate/tour guide Anders... "Some guys want to look brown for their girlfriend." (I guess that answers Office Space's query about conjugal visits.)
6) Speaking of conjugal visits, apparently they can be a source of strife inside, because some guys don't have girlfriends or wives... sometimes life isn't fair, even in Denmark.
7) If you get caught with Hash (similar to Marijuana) on the inside-- you face the wrath of a 50 Kr fine, about 10 bucks... there's stiffer penalties for that in San Francisco.
8) My favorite line in the literature is that the escape rate is only 10%, or in the words of J.S.P. "Or as we like to see it, 9 out of 10 prisoners decide to stay."

So as you can see... the prison system in Scandinavia is very different than what we're using state side... but you want to know something? It seems to be working.

The key to this system is that the prisoners are psychologically tested by this method, and the ones who pass (they don't escape and follow the rules) are much more fit to re-enter society at the conclusion of their sentence... Now the ones that can't follow the rules and escape or smuggle in too many drugs are sent to more conventional "Closed" prisons. Heck, they even have a (as in one) maximum security prison.

Would this work in the States? Not for all prisoners, but I'm sure there is a portion of our criminal population that would thrive with more freedoms. The Danes keep saying that if you treat someone as a human, they'll act like a human, and if you treat them like an animal, they'll act like an animal. Now there are some huge asterisks here... Denmark has significantly lower rates of violent crime and there is no gang warfare. Also, Denmark is a country of only 5.5 million people (NYC has 8 million residents).

Now is the system perfect? No. They had an incident recently where an inmate on weekend leave shot and killed two police officers... in Finland. But unlike the Willie Horton episode that ended weekend furloughs in Massachusetts in the 80s, the system was able to withstand the public pressure.

As you can see, it's a fascinating case study, which I'm sure I'll have a ball analyzing in1300 words next week. I'll end here with the picture that I think sums it up... This is the front gate to the Prison... Unbelievable.