Ecurity Prison

Peter Vala, a 42-year old man who used his belligerent strength to strangle his girlfriend to death many years ago, is serving a prison sentence for murder. Perhaps you’re picturing him in a maximum-security prison, wearing an orange jumpsuit, surrounded by electric fences and armed guards with attack dogs. In reality, Vala, who has biceps the size of footballs, is being held in a place where many of us would consider a vacation. In Oslo, Norway lies a minimum-security prison, Bastoy, where felons hold keys to their own locks. Here, Vala and 114 other inmates who have been convicted for malicious acts such as murder, rape and drug trafficking, are free to enjoy saunas, go horseback riding or even spend the day sun tanning at the beach. In fact, …show more content…
Bastoy Prison was founded in 1982, where inmates live comfortably in wooden cottages resembling college dorms. Convicts don’t commence their prison life at Bastoy. They must serve time in conventional lockup before applying to be transferred to Bastoy for the last five years of their sentence. Prisoners garner one free meal a day. They have a variety of choices including fish, chicken or salmon quite the sumptuous spread for inmates who may have committed murder. For their other two meals, prisoners can use money they earn by carrying out tasks such as maintaining the vegetable gardens, raising livestock or repairing bicycles. They may also use their earned money to purchase food from the local supermarket on the island, and are expected to prepare the meals themselves in their kitchens. Inmates have their own room; however, they must share the kitchen and other common areas …show more content…
Surprisingly, neither the guards nor the inmates wear any specific clothing that indicate their position on this tiny Island. Therefore, it may be hard to tell an officer from a drug dealer. All prisoners are required to check in with an officer multiple times a day so that guards can be sure the inmates are still on the island. Nothing but one-and-a-half miles of water stops them from leaving. An escape would be relatively easy. Come summer time, prisoners may choose to go fishing or cross-country skiing in the winter; however, Norway’s prison island isn’t all just fun and games. The goal of the prison is to turn criminals’ lives around as well as reduce the risk that re-offenders pose to society after they leave prison and it seems like Bastoy’s rehabilitation format has been working. Bastoy inmates have a re-offending rate of 16% compared with 77% of state prisoners re-offending in the U.S. So, why is Bastoy’s re-offending rate so low? First and foremost, every inmate is rendered high-quality education and training programs to increase his chances of living a normal life consequent to release. In addition, the prison guards, who receive three years of training compared