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The
Norwegian Correctional Service
For
more information – please contact
The Central Administration of the Correctional Service
Post box 8005 Dep. 0030 Oslo, Norway
Phone: +47 22 24 55 01
Fax: +47 22 24 55 90
E-Mail: jd-arkiv-kriminalomsorgsavd@jd.dep.no
The
Correctional Service of Norway is administered by the Ministry
of Justice and Police, Department of Correctional Services.
The main tasks of this Department are to act as a secretariat
for the political leadership, to work on proposals towards
the Parliaments budget proposition, to form policies, laws,
regulations, and central guidelines, as well as to co-operate
with other ministries. This Department also functions as
a directorate of the Norwegian Correctional Service.
After a thorough review of all penal forms of reaction and
the care and confinement of Criminals The Correctional Services
was reorganised as from January first 2001.
The Execution of Sentence Act, was operative from first
of March 2002.This Act applies to the execution of sentences
of imprisonment, special criminal sanctions, community sentences,
remand in custody and to the execution of other sanctions
when specially provided by statute. It is the purpose of
this Act that a sentence shall be executed in a manner that
serve to prevent the commission of new criminal acts, that
reassures society and within this framework ensure satisfactory
conditions for the prisoners.
Main
goals of The Norwegian Correctional Service
• To enforce reactions set by the prosecution authority
and by the courts of law, as soon as they are legally binding.
• To enable the offender, through his/her own initiative,
to change their own criminal behaviour.
The
Organisational Structure of the Norwegian Correctional Service
The
Ministry of Justice and Police
The Central Administration of the Norwegian Correctional
Service |
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KITT
– The Correctional Service IT Centre |
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KRUS
– The Prison and Probation Staff Educational Centre |
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Region
North, Trondheim
Sør-Trøndelag, Nord- Trøndelag,
Nordland, Troms, Finnmark |
The
Correctional Service
Region North
Post box 2651 Sentrum
7415 Trondheim, Norway
Phone: +47 73 56 16 10
Fax: +47 73 56 16 30 |
Region
West, Bergen
Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal |
The
Correctional Service
Region West
Post box 2444 Solheimsviken
5842 Bergen, Norway
Phone: +47 55 38 72 00
Fax: +47 55 38 72 60 |
Region
South-West, Sandnes
Rogaland, Vest-Agder, Aust-Agder |
The
Correctional Service
Region South-West
Post box 674
4305 Sandnes, Norway
Phone: +47 51 97 39 00
Fax: +47 51 97 39 01 |
Region
South, Tønsberg
Buskerud, Vestfold, Telemark |
The
Correctional Service
Region South
Post box 2166
3103 Tønsberg, Norway
Phone: +47 33 30 73 70
Fax: +47 33 30 73 99 |
Region
North-East, Lillestrøm
Akershus, Hedmark, Oppland |
The
Correctional Service
Region North East
Post box 1551
2001 Lillestrøm, Norway
Phone: +47 64 84 71 50
Fax: +47 64 84 71 99 |
Region
East, Oslo
Oslo, Østfold |
The
Correctional Service
Region East
Post box 9006 Grønland
0133 Oslo, Norway
Phone: +47 23 30 40 50
Fax: +47 23 30 49 99 |
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4
Half-way Houses
21
Pobation offices
42
Prisons
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Main
tasks for the Central Administration of the Correctional
Service
• Manage the Correctional Service – i.e. set the
main goals of the service
• Allocation of budgets to the Regional Administrations
• Evaluating performance reports demanded budget allocation
• Responsible for tasks not delegated to regional administration
Main
tasks for the regional level
• Form regional goals and directions in accordance
with central guidelines, for all lines of professions as
well as support functions
• Allocate resources to local units together with clear
priorities and result demands
• Ensure that regional resources are utilized as efficient
as possible
• Treat complaints of decisions made at the local level
• Supervise local units
Main
tasks for the local units
• The preparation of social inquiry reports; the execution
of community sanctions, prison sentences, remands in custody
and preventive detention
Resources
The 2002 budget for the Service including regional administration
is approximately 1500 million Norwegian Kroner (Approximately
$200 Million). Total prison capacity is 2923. Largest prison
is Oslo with a capacity of 354 followed by Bergen 197, Åna
195 and Ringerike 160. Smallest is Mosjøen 9, Sandefjord
11, Moss and Molde with a capacity of 12 each.
The
Prison and Probation Staff Education Centre (KRUS)
KRUS is a competence centre for the Norwegian Correctional
Service. KRUS provides education for prison officers and
works officers, adult education and further training for
the employees in the service. In addition to this, KRUS
runs research projects, development projects and provides
information and communication services.
The prison officer’s education is formed as a two-year
candidate training programme, where one studies both theoretical
- and practical- topics. The key elements in the candidates
training are; Case criminal proceedings and other related
law subjects, ethics and professionalism, practical knowledge
about prisons, criminology, environmental work in institutions
and the role of the prison officer. KRUS has a total of
300 students a year.
The
Correctional Service IT Centre (KITT)
The main responsibility of the IT Centre (KITT) is IT-development,
IT implementation and to provide IT based systems for the
Service as a whole. The IT unit also provides support services,
as well as operational and maintenance services. KITT has
at present an administrative unit in Oslo and a technical
centre in Horten.
Cooperation
between management units
Through cooperation with other public services, the service
oversees that the inmates and those held in custody are
provided with the services they have the right to receive.
This cooperation contributes to a common effort towards
meeting the needs of the offender, as well as to make possible
their adjustment to society. Examples of areas of cooperation
are; the educational- and health- sector, library services
in prisons, and the employment council who provide work
training as well as assistance to get former convicts back
into paid work once released.
Execution
of sentences
Imprisonment and other special penal reactions can be carried
out
• In high security prisons (closed prisons)
• In low security prisons (open prisons)
• In hostels
• Non-custodial and early release with special conditions
including supervision and control by the probation Service
The
Correctional Service shall execute sentences in such a way
as to reduce the otherwise harmful effects of incarceration.
In addition the goal is to try and help the individual to
start a life free of crime after the release. The execution
of the sentences is progressive, i.e. the convicted person
gradually receives a larger degree of freedom.
Remand
Remand prisoners shall only be deprived of their liberty
and no other restrictive initiatives shall be taken above
those necessary to ensure he remains in custody and to maintain
prison security.
Detention
Detention is a new special penal reaction. Detention has
replaced the old security detention. However there will
still be prisoners serving the security detention sentence,
under the old conditions. Ila prison for men and Bredtveit
prison for women, are defined as special units for those
sentenced with detention.
Community
Sanctions
The new law has removed Community Service Orders as an independent
reaction from the statute book. Community Service Orders
have been replaced by wide ranging conditions, which can
be appended to a conditional sentence including those similar
to the earlier CSOs. Probation, i.e. supervision by the
Probation Service as an independent reaction is not an alternative
in Norway. The court of law sets the range of the sentence,
while the Probation Service decides the content within the
frames given by the sentence. The focus is set on specific
efforts that will work towards reducing the criminal pattern
of the sentenced person.
Personal
Contact Officer
An essential part of the job of a prison officer is to support
and motivate prisoners to use their period of incarceration
constructively. This includes positive use of the period
in prison and post-release plans. The goal is for all inmates
to have a personal contact officer.
Plans
for the Future
A written and agreed plan for the inmate’s sojourn
in prison and his ultimate release is the basis for structured,
goal-oriented initiatives while incarcerated. The main target
group is convicted persons with sentences that are admitted
for release on parole and those serving community sentences.
The plan should contain efforts that the convicted wishes
to follow through during his/her prison sentence or community
service. The plan should be solution oriented, and open
for questions regarding work and education during the time
of the sentence, participation in programs, spare-time activities
etc. During community sanctions, it may also include obligations
for meetings with the social welfare office, employment
centres, rehabilitation centres and so on. On average, half
of those who started their sentence in 2001, followed trough
their sentence in relation to a future plan.
Work, school and leisure activities
Convicts are obligated to work on a daily basis, and are
rewarded with a regular daily salary of 46 Nok ($6). The
Service is obligated to provide opportunities for some form
of daily activity. Participation in educational activities
as well as programmes run during daytime, gives the same
right for daily allowance as work assignments. Further,
the Service is obligated to provide opportunities for the
convicted person to participate in leisure activities during
his/her spare time. This includes possibilities for physical
activities and cultural activities.
Programmes
Programmes are structured efforts directed towards sentenced
and remanded persons. Programs are usually in the form of
education, training of skills, and/ or structured conversations.
Programmes can be organized either in groups or individually.
In order to maintain focus on change and learning processes,
the prison and probation service has established a spectre
of programs that follow systematic and well-founded professional
standards:
• Cognitive Skills Program
• OSAP – Offender Substance Abuse Program
• Choices – Follow up program of OSAP for the
probation service
• Brotts-brytet (Stop Crime) – A program directed
towards recidivists
• Win– A change program for women, built on the
motivational interviewing method
• One to one – A cognitive program at use both
in prison and in the probation service
• ATV – Discussion groups for violence/sexual
offenders built on the alternative to violence model
• Anger Management Program
• Sexual Offenders Program
Drunk-Drivers’
Program
The “Drunk-Drivers” program is a probationary
arrangement with sentences for driving under the influence
of alcohol. This reaction replaces custodial sentences,
and is a program combining education, treatment and supervision.
In the spring of 2002, 12 counties out of 20 were included
in the project. Throughout 2001, 190 sentences were followed
through. Since the arrangement started, a total of 916 sentences
have been followed through. The Probation Service administers
the “Drunk-Drivers” program.
Some statistics regarding the activities of the year 2001
Committals
12134 persons were committed to prison in 2001, of which
8.7% were female. Prison density in 2001 was 94%. By the
end of 2001, 2057 sentenced people were waiting to commence
their sentence (The so called prison queue). Seven male
and no females were committed for security detention. 609
male and 100 women were committed for serving their fines.
Custody
The number of new imprisonments for custody in 2001 (3856)
was stable with the year before. Remand committals made
up 34 per cent of new committals, and the share of custody
made up 23 per cent i.e. 618 persons on average. The average
time spent in custody in 2001 was 57 days, opposed to 59
days in 2000. By the time of committal, 41 per cent of the
remanded were given restrictions, for 96 per cent these
restrictions were suspended within three months.
Probation
Throughout 2001, 3304 new probation orders were implemented.
These were: probation under deferred sentence, community
service, preventive supervision, release on parole, and
conditional discharge. Throughout the year, a total of 5485
persons were under supervision or completing community sanctions.
Community Service Orders
During 2001, the probation service received 827 sentences
for enforcement, which is an increase of 270 from the year
before. 71 per cent of the community service sentences were
completed without any breach of conditions.
The CSO is now a part of the Community Sentence, ref The
Execution of Sentence Act.
The hours constituting the term of a community sentence
shall be spent on a) community service, b) programmes, c)
other measures suitable for preventing new criminality.
Nationality
As of Sept 30th 86 per cent of the inmates were Norwegian
citizens. No nation, besides former Yugoslavia (1,3 %),
Poland (1%) and Iraq (1,2 %), were represented with more
than 1 per cent of the inmates. A clear majority of foreign
inmates are serving sentences for violation of the Drug
and Narcotic act.
Imprisonment
as a proportion of inhabitants
A total of 61,7 persons for each 100 000 Norwegian citizen
were in prison in 2001. The numbers are similar to those
from Sweden and Denmark. However the rest of Europe have
a rate of 100 per 100 000 in prison.
The
Ethical Foundation to the Norwegian Correctional Service
• Penal reactions are to be humanely enforced in ways
that ensure both the well-being and the safety of society
• Convicted persons are to be protected against unfair
and arbitrary reactions
• The enforcement of sentence or order is to be based
on the needs and the total life situation of the convicted
person and is aimed at giving full support to his or her
efforts to live a law-abiding life
• Penal law, legal practices and enforcement of sentence
or order are based on humanity, legal protection and equality
before the law
Main
challenges
Operating with a new law at hand and a new organisational
form, the sector has been given new tools to enhance the
quality of their work and to accomplish a better use of
their resources. The coordination of practice between the
six regions, the focus on efficient use of capacity, and
at the same time maintaining the quality of the execution
of sentences, are the main challenges of The Correctional
Service today.
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