Więzienie w Bergen z lotu ptaka, dzięki uprzejomości Bergen fengsel
Thanks to the Active Citizens – Regional Fund programme, we the activists from the „Dom Kultury” Foundation paid a study visit to Kriminalomsorgen in Norway, the Directorate of Correctional Service. As part of the visit, we had the pleasure of visiting three prisons located in Bergen (Bergen fengsel) , learning about the working methods of Norwegian prisoners and getting to know two NGOs working in Bergen on behalf of inmates and former inmates.
Photo Justyna Domasłowska Szulc, Bergen fengsel gate
Mutual acquaintance, trust and respect are conducive to rehabilitation.
During the three days, we visited three wards of the Bergen prison, translating into Polish terms: there was a closed ward for men (high-security prison), a semi-open ward for men (low-security prison) and an open unit for women. During the presentation and guided tour by the Deputy Director General Ivar Jensen, we learnt the most important thing: that at the heart of the rehabilitation of people serving a prison sentence is respect for others. How does this look like in practice? Prison officers and all prison staff refer to each other as well as to inmates with respect. The culture of being is one of the factors taken into account when hiring prison staff. The architecture of prison buildings is also subordinated to this principle: the rooms help to preserve the intimacy and social relations of people in isolation, which is conducive to their return to society after serving their sentence. There is creative rehabilitation in prisons, carried out by suitably trained educators in well-equipped workshop rooms. There’s even a coffee roasting room. There is a boutique where inmate ladies sell handicrafts made by prisoners. The boutique is in outside life at the outer ward and also available online: Bergen Fengsel Butikk . There are very well-equipped kitchens in each ward, where the inmates prepare their own meals. They buy their groceries from a cheap, well-stocked canteen. They eat lunch together with the officers.
In prison, they acquire an attractive profession or hobby to continue them in freedom.
Group photo with the Director of Bergen Fengsel
The Wayback organisation , the chief executive of which we had the opportunity to meet, provides vocational and hobby courses for ex-convicts of substance abuse offenses. Wayback offers a wide range of occupations for which it prepares and workshops to support hobbies, often from a range of extreme sports, such as skydiving.
Group photo from Wayback
The Bergen Red Cross carries out other activities: it supports former inmates convicted of sex crimes and, while still in prison, prepares them for their release by running programmes together with the correctional service to prevent recidivism, further crimes. Rode Kors also runs the „Visiting Prisoners” project, a programme to support prisoners without family: it prepares volunteers to make regular visits to such people, who in this way maintain a relationship with the outside society.
Meeting of participants with representatives of the Red Cross in Bergen
Rode Kors badge
Take a look at our photo reports below.
The authors of the photos are: Justyna Domasłowska-Szulc from the Dom Kultury Foundation and Hanne Frosta from Bergen Fengsel.
Justyna Domasłowska Szulc, end of the prison visit in Bergen
The project is financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants within the Active Citizens Fund – Regional Programme.
