9GJF+3X Horten, Norway
Bastøy Prison (Norwegian: Bastøy fengsel) is a high-security prison on Bastøy Island, Norway, located in the municipality of Horten about 75 km south of Oslo. The prison is situated on an island covering 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) and houses 115 inmates. Arne Kvernvik-Nilsen, the prison chief, leads a staff of 69 prison employees. Of this staff, only five remain on the island overnight. The prison is about an hour’s drive from Oslo.
Before the current prison, the island hosted a juvenile detention center — the Bastøy Boys’ Home. The Norwegian government purchased the island in 1898 for 95,000 kroner, and the correctional facility opened in 1900. In 1915, a boys’ uprising took place here, which was suppressed by the Norwegian military; a film about these events, "King of Devil’s Island," was made in 2010. The uprising occurred on May 20, 1915, when 30 to 40 boys rallied around four young men who had escaped and were recaptured. The group refused to work, armed themselves with farming tools and stones, cut telephone lines, and then set fire to a barn. The same barn had burned two years earlier. When instructors and guards failed to quell the rebellion, the military was called in. Over a hundred soldiers stormed the island, and two seaplanes, two submarines, and the battleship "Norway" from the Karljohansvern naval base in Horten were also deployed. Several boys fled into the forest but were later caught. Officials identified the ringleader as a newly arrived 18-year-old "Gypsy boy," an apprentice locksmith from Christiania. Three others were identified as his accomplices.
The 1915 uprising did not end the strict disciplinary methods of the school, which continued until 1953 when the Ministry of Social Affairs took over management. The school was closed on October 1, 1970.
Now the situation has changed, and Norway is known for its truly humane penitentiary system, making it the most coveted place all prisoners dream of going to. It is there that perhaps the most idyllic bastion of order among all existing prisons is located. Situated just an hour’s drive from Oslo, Bastøy Island is a picturesque place accessible only by water transport. There are several beaches, equipped tennis courts, and even a sauna. Instead of being behind bars, the 115 inmates of this remarkable prison live in comfortable wooden cottages. What is now absent on Bastøy Island is barbed wire and angry guards with automatic weapons and German shepherds. And this is despite the fact that the island houses the most notorious criminals of all kinds: from drug dealers and fraudsters to rapists and murderers.
Regarding the regime, the main duty of every inmate is work. Everyone has a job where they must be from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Daily, prisoners receive a wage of $10, which they can spend on groceries at the local store, thus providing themselves with breakfast and dinner as they wish. Lunch is mandatory for all and is prepared by the camp cook — for both inmates and guards. Also, several times a day, inmates are required to check in.
The goal of Bastøy Island prison is not to insult the law-abiding citizens of Norway by pampering criminals instead of punishing them, but to change them and allow them to return to society. “The main thing is to create a situation where inmates can discover a new side of themselves, start respecting themselves again,” says the colony chief Arne Kvernvik Nilsen.
As surprising as it may sound, the method of this fairy-tale prison works. According to statistics, 20% of criminals who have been in Norwegian prisons end up back there several years after release. Of those who had the opportunity to serve time on Bastøy Island, only 16% are re-convicted.
