Art Within The Walls Of Halden Prison

In the US, we have a very different prison system than Norway in many ways. We currently incarcerate people at a rate of 639 per 100,000 people, which is the highest in the world (Statista, 2021). The US gives out prison sentences ranging up to life in prison for various crimes and even the death penalty, in regard to murder cases. Our recidivism rates are just as shockingly high, as our incarceration rate, at 77% return to imprisonment after 5 years of release. The purpose of this story being told here, of Halden prison, is to share about alternative ways people can experience incarceration with the intention that they will never return. The alternative imprisonment factor I will share about has to do with prisoners' interaction with architecture and art in their environment, while in prison, and how this aids to rehabilitation and reduced likelihood of reoffending. This is in hopes to open the eyes of prison system like the US to see that there is more than one way to deal with criminals. We do not have to treat criminals with harsh punishment and disrespect, but we can introduce them to compassion and ways to rehabilitate themselves through avenues like art.

Throughout this piece I will tell the story of Norway's maximum security prison, Halden and how it operates in regard to rehabilitating people through art. I will first touch on the background of Norwegian Justice, then talk about architecture, art being made in Halden by prisoner, art being housed within Halden and then finally, the explanation of why these tools are important and transformative to these individuals for rehabilitation.

To give background on Norway's prison system, they are focused on rehabilitation and have been for about 12 years. There was a recent shift 12 years ago to a more rehabilitative focus that has shown positive results in terms of effectiveness of reduced incarcerated persons. Their purpose is to create neighbors, which is a common saying in Norway. This means they are focused on the process of changing inmates for the better in hopes that they will be good neighbors and citizens when released. Their maximum sentence is capped at 21 years of incarceration, however this can be increased indefinitely in increments of 5 years if it is deemed that the person is still a danger to society. While in prison inmates have the chance to cook for themselves, learn trades, go to school, work a job with income, create art and music, and process what wrong they have done through productive outlets. The prison guards are not only tasked with keeping inmates in the confines of the prison, but their greater focus is in building trust and relationships with inmates in hopes to help them process and understand the reasons they ended up incarcerated. Guards tend to be more like councilors and peacekeepers. Halden Prison was built in 2010 and is named the most humane prison by many sources.

The prison is critisized for how nicely they treat their inmates. This is due to to lack of understanding of the purpose of Halden. Many do not see where punishment fits in with the seemingly luxurious living situation, but what is failed to be realized is that punishment is not the most important process for Halden and Norway as a whole. Punishment is served by the lack of freedom outside the prison walls but their purpose beyond that is to rehabilitate inmates and provide them with an opportunity to change the way they are living their lives; this may manifest in better living conditions and mimicking of normalcy of routine inside the walls, as well as equal respect between prisoners and guards.

When walking up to Halden Prison you will be greeted with a 25 ft tall concrete wall that surrounds the facility. This may be the only indicator that you are about to enter a high-security prison housing murderers, rapists, drug dealers, and other dangerous criminals; this is because when you enter you may find yourself thinking you are in a college campus. The way in which this prison is designed is to feel like you are in an open space similar to the outside world. This is done by allowing several buildings to be connected by an outdoor nature filled landscape mimicking a college campus. This type of architectural design allows prisoners to come and go from each building as if they were traveling back and forth from work, dinning, or even gym to home which provides a sense of normalcy within the constraints of the prison.

In Halden, prisoners live relatively normal lives. They wake up, cook themselves meals, shower in their own bathrooms, go to work, socialize, go to their therapeutic art studio or recording studio and then go to bed to do it all again the next day. In this clip below, from the documentary, The World's Most Luxurious Prisons, we get to hear from a prisoner within the walls of Halden and their opinion on this way of imprisonment.

Prisoners have many opportunities to express themselves through art, in many forms in Halden. These forms include painting, ceramics, and music, to name a few. These methods are meant to be rehabilitative and help prisoners express themselves in productive ways instead of participating in other ways of expression that may lead them further down a destructive path.

Below is a first hand account of the production of music with prisoners in Halden.

I found it tough to find reviews and descriptions for all of the art in the prison, but this short clip from Norway's Humane Prisons documentary illuminates just how vass the inclusion of art is within the walls of Halden.

Thus far the background of the US and Norway prison systems has been introduced and we have seen how Norway's Halden prison has made use of art within their rehabilitative process. But it has yet to be discussed how this is actually beneficial. First, these process seem to help create a sense of respect between prisoners, not common in other prisons as shown with interviews below. Many inmates are assalted by other prisoners, and guards while incarcerated in american prisons, and alike; this does not seem to be a problem in Halden. Maybe the process of working through their issues through various methods including artistic outlets has caused this sense of respect and understanding for one another that isn't common among prisons who do not have these types of practices.

Along with this, Halden has never had an escaped inmate. This begs the assumption that inmates understand why they need to be present at the the prison to rehabilitate.

The recidivism rate in Norway also seems to be substantially lower than that of the US, this is demonstrated by the chart on the right. About 20-25% of convicts reoffend after 5 years of release in Norway (this translates to only 2 in every 10 convicts, which is the lowest in the world) while in the US, as mentioned previously, 77% of convicts reoffend after 5 years of release.

What seems to be even more shocking is that Norway had a similar recidivism rate to the US around 10 years ago, their rate was about 60-70%. What changed in the justice system what how they approached those who had been incarcerated. Norway decided to switch its focus on not punishment but on rehabilitation. A large part of this was allowing inmates to be able to express themselves in productive manners and reconcile with the harm they have done, and this was partly done with the use of Art.

The focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment in justice systems, through methods such as making and including art as well as presenting architectural designs that allow inmates to grow, feel safe, and comfortable, is proven to be very useful in Norway, and more specifically in Halden Prison. Inmates have the chance to come out of these facilities as changed people and good neighbors. This also reduces the amount of convicts reoffending which lowers crime rates as well. These measures are expensive, however they ultimately allow for less incarcerated individuals in the long run as well as a safer society as a whole, so money will eventually be saved in the long run. This way of dealing with criminals may be useful to look at in terms of how the US can reduce recidivism and crime rates in the future.