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Skien Prison – Norway
My recent visit to Skien prison was sobering. Walking onto the exercise yard and talking to men who were serving long sentences was surreal in many ways. The prison walls were high. The men were serving up to thirty years. We chatted about the respective regimes of the UK and Norway. They knew little about the UK system – but I could see the difference. The biggest was the fact that prisoners at Skien are allowed access to the Internet via computer in their cells. Access is monitored and firewalls are set up to avoid any embarrassing security breaches. In the UK few prisoners are allowed access to computers, never mind the Internet. A friend of mine, who has been in prison for decades was allowed to have a lap top in his cell four years ago. His mother and I clubbed together to buy it for him. Now the lap top is malfunctioning and needs repairs – but it would be cheaper for him to purchase another laptop. The only problem is the prison now has a different governor who does not like prisoners having computers in their cells. If my friend hands out his lap top he will not be allowed to have a replacement – “no more computers in cells,” says the governor. The Norwegian prison is secure and the prisoners are not going anywhere. But while they are in they are provided with opportunites to improve and feel that they are still connected to the world. Is that such a terrible thing?
Just this week, a mother described the effect of her teenage daughter’s murder to a court. I believe her statement said that ‘it tore the heart out of her family’ and I can well believe it. The man who committed the murder will be in prison for a very long time and, in this case, the need for prison to impose punishment on that man may be held to over-ride the other possibilities of prison, reform, re-education, rehabilitation amongst them. I am against Titan prisons, I believe that prisoners should be treated as human beings and helped to become something less than transgressive. But that particular man has robbed that particular teenage girl of her entire life and her parents and her sibling will never have anything except half a life between them.
Do you really think he should have access to broadband?
John – thank you for your comment. I recognise the case you are referring to, appalling I know – every week the most horrific cases are reported in the press. But those cases, thankfully are in the minority – which is why they make the headlines. The majority of people who go to prison in the UK will be released, one day they will be your neighbour or my neighbour – I want a prison system that lets people out less likely or motivated to cause further harm or distress to others. What happens while they are in prison is a huge factor in determining future behaviour. The more we detach prisoners from society – the harsher our attitutes towards them while they are inside – the harder we make it for them to fit in when they get out. Which makes it more likely that they will reoffend. (Currently two thirds of people released from prison reoffend within two years.) You ask if I believe that the man you refer to should have access to broadband. As you point out – he has a lot of time to serve in prison to reflect on what he took from his victim and her family – fortunately for him, and thanks to the fact that we do not sentence people to death in this great country, he still has his life to live. I think ideas of reform and rehabilitation in cases like his however are not a priority – it seems to me that his conduct in prison and his attitude to what he has done should determine whether the authorities eventually deem him worthy of consideration for “rehabilitation.” If that happens, and if he demonstrates by his actions in prison that he is contrite – and if he is ever considered for release – we have to make sure that he is equipped to live and function properly in society without causing any further harm or distress to others. Having restricted and monitored access to the internet might be a part of that if it is required as part of the skill building process. But I am not in favour of “perks” or “privileges” for people in prison for the sake of it – as far as I am concerned it is a practical, pragmatic issue – treat prisoners like scum and the likelihood is that they will behave like worse scum when they get out.
I cannot disagree with almost all you say and I have been struck by the wisdom (hard won) that you bring to these issues. I am old enough to remember – with absolute revulsion – what it meant when a man or woman was executed. Children – I was a child then – lingered by the radio waiting for the eight o’clock time signal that would tell them that a life had been ended. It was horrible. It disgusted me then and it makes me cry now. Capital punishment is not the answer. It is not even the question. The question, the problem, is what you do with a human being who makes him or herself less than human by the actions taken, who ‘tears the heart out’ of another human being or a family. I am aware, though I am not a lawyer, of the saying that ‘hard cases make bad law’, that the case I referred to and that mother’s moving statement should not, must not, overwhelm rational discussion or compassion. Most prisoners are not monsters. They are silly, greedy, drunk, stupid, irrational or just plain unlucky. And some (but relatively few) manage to re-invent themselves in prison and can be helped to do so and can be helped towards a useful life. But are some irredeemable? Is there a point at which society should say – this is too much, this is beyond civic compassion or common sense, this person is beyond help? If so, what on earth is to be done about it? Do you lock criminals convicted of murder up with a jar of hemlock? It would probably be the individuals convicted in error who would be the first to drink it. And there are always individuals convicted in error or convicted because they are mentally unstable or inadequate – that is another issue and another problem and yet another complication.
So – questions and more questions; I am afraid I have no answers, though your comments and the opportunity that blogging offers have made me think a little more seriously about some of my ideas. I cannot forget that the mother of a murdered child also receives a life sentence of pain, guilt, remorse, anger and regret and that – in spite of a lifetime pretending to be a bleeding heart liberal – there is a bit of me that cries out for vengeance on that mother’s behalf.
John, I found your comments and questions interesting i have just edited an arts magazine on the art of forgiveness which i thought you would find interesting as it has some very inspiring and moving accounts of how the arts have helped people to forgive and through forgiveness can come some great art. The magazine is called the Aword and is free to download at http://www.apcentre.org.uk/arts_on_the_out/index.html
Erwin it was great meeting you at john healeys reading at the bluecoat theatre. I will be writing about the grass arena and i would like to use some of the article you wrote on your guardian blog
about how the grass arena gave you hope. Let me know if thats ok. As the next theme for the mag is the art of hope in feb.
Hope your well and good to see your writing some great thought provoking pieces.
In Friendship
Charlie
Charlie, thank you. I looked at your magazine with great interest but forgiveness, redemption and the power of art are such huge subjects that even Erwin’s splendid blog. can not contain them. I am going to leave it there, and I wish you well for your next issue, all the best, jsg
Given that the prisoner mentioned by Erwin is someone I know slightly, I may not be the best person to comment on this whole business of prisoners and the internet. However the internet will become a fundamental part of most peoples lives from now on and the fact is it is another skill a prisoner may need on release. I think at the end of the day at some stage into a persons sentence if they have shown they are willing to change we must allow them the chance to do so. I do not mean they should have all they want but the balance must be found between reform and punishment. I might add that the prisoner who’s computer is now playing up was recalled to prison, was not guilty of any further crime and it seems to me has been inside far far too long. But hey as I said I am not the best person to ask about these matters.
the urge for vengeance on the part of victims is not unnatural, and whilst this must be accepted with compassion it should not dictate public policy. The wilful neglect of the information age by the prison service should be a matter of shame – particularly as they allow prisoners net access at hmp wolds, in order to make profit for the company summit media. To deny it for educational purposes is vindictive and short sighted.