Incarceration With A Twist By: Danelle Hove
In Iceland, the state owns and runs all prison facilities, and as of 2020, there are five prisons with around two hundred prison cells each.[1] About 25% of Iceland’s prisoners are held in open conditions, meaning there is very little surveillance.[2] Each open prison holds about twenty prisoners, with single-room occupancy and a limited number of communal spaces.[3] Open prisons often lack many normal prison features such as alarm strips, search facilities, spacious staff areas, and sufficient visiting areas.[4]
Kvíabryggja is one of the two open prisons that was built in 1963 as a low security prison for juvenile offenders, first time offenders, and others who are not a threat to society.[5] This prison has a formal vehicle barrier as some form of security, but lacks any practical way to keep prisoners in and others out.[6] No fence encloses in the prison area, cattle are kept on the premises, and nature is visible from nearly every room.[7] Additionally, Icelandic prisoners are offered a lot more leisure and leniency with their schedules compared to inmates within closed prisons.[8] Those in open prisons do not have a strict schedules to follow and can use the communal spaces with a relative amount of freedom.[9] Inmates are also required to maintain either an education or career during their incarceration.[10]
Open prisons are often described as “shallow,” meaning they lack depth in a way that allows the outside world in.[11] Instead of being heavily guarded and fenced in with barbed wire, open prisons are compared to places that bring enjoyment and comfort, like hotels.[12] These open prisons can often be mistaken for as a cottage, a farmhouse, a restaurant, or a hotel.[13] People can walk through the front door without a metal detector or a security screening.[14]Since the prison grounds are extremely accessibly, approximately twenty people can be found wandering about.[15] If not for security guard uniforms, one would not be able to distinguish between those who are incarcerated, from the guards.[16] Contrary to the average prison, where this type of low security could be extremely dangerous for society, open prisons are not for those who pose a threat to society.[17] Open prisons allow for greater freedoms to non-violent offenders, focusing on rehabilitation to allow inmates opportunities for community involvement.[18]
Each inmate is given a bicycle that they are allowed to ride around on the prison grounds.[19] One inmate referred to open prisons as a “petting zoo” because it was a soft place for vulnerable prisoners.[20] Prisoners in Iceland have described open prisons like “heaven” and closed prisons like “hell”.[21] Inmates in open prisons have the ability to access the internet and preserve a domestic presence through allowing consistent communications with the outside world.[22]Furthermore, open prisons facilitate an environment for friendly staff and prisoner relationships, where they spend time together smoking, watching television, and more.[23] Remarkably, some inmates expressed enjoyment in their incarceration at open prisons and felt welcomed.[24] For example, a Dutch man who was being released from Kvíabryggja requested to not be released and to remain at the prison because he felt comfortable and had no other place to stay in Iceland.[25]
However, even though comfortable, inmates often doubt staff, their authority, and doubt their ability to deal with the limited violent prisoners.[26] For example, in 2015, two inmates escaped from the Kvíabryggja open prison.[27]These two inmates were drug offenders and not considered dangerous.[28] On July 13th, the two inmates did not show up to their cells after being allowed to spend some time outdoors; however, inmates escaping was not common for this open prison, even though prisoners are granted a lot of freedom and leisure time.[29] There was no news as to if the bicycles each prisoner was given was involved in the prison escape, nonetheless society was not in fear of these escaped inmates.[30]
The Association of Icelandic Prisoners (AIP), founded by a formerly incarcerated individual named Guðmundur Þóroddsson, advocates for more community service options and lesser prison sentences.[31] The AIP “explains that prison guards at Kvíabryggja traditionally spent more time trying to chase sheep off the prison grounds than to stop inmates from trying to escape.”[32] In addition to sheep, trespassers are often a struggle for open prisons, as eager tourists want to take photos of the Kirkjufell mountain that is near the prison grounds.[33] Other than livestock and trespassers, the most turmoil that occurs between inmates stems from other inmates having more luxurious bikes.[34]
On the other hand, Icelandic closed prisons face different struggles.[35] Typically, closed prisons will include inmates who have an extensive criminal background who have longer sentences and pose a greater threat to society.[36]In the Council of Europe’s fifth periodic visit to Icelandic prisons, the Committee found that inter-prison violence was a problem in one of the closed prison facilities, Litla-Hraun Prison.[37] Unlike open prisons, the material condition of the detention facility were at a high standard, but the efforts for outside work opportunity were lacking.[38] Moreover, Iceland’s prisons remain unsuccessful in implementing recommendations from the Committee’s first visit in 1993 regarding the newly-arrived inmates medical screening for injuries and diseases.[39] One of the largest concerns among inmates is access to a doctor, which is essential to inmates suffering from drug addiction, mental health issues, or medical problems.[40]
Alternatives to imprisonment came into effect in Iceland in 1990 with a program that allowed inmates with drug addiction to complete a six-week-long sentence at a rehabilitation facility.[41] Then, in 1995, the law allowed for community service as another alternative.[42] The Prison and Probation Administration (PPA) have the authority to convert prison sentences into community service under certain conditions.[43] According to Iceland Law No. 55/1994, forty hours of community service is equal to one-month of a prison sentence.[44] Therefore, for sentences up to twelve months, the PPA can authorize for the sentence to be served as unpaid community service ranging from forty to 480 hours.[45]
Some inmates even serve their prison sentences at a nonprofit association called Vernd, a privately owned half-way house.[46] Vernd allows inmates to pay rent, hold an outside job, attend school, and interact with their family under strict conduct rules.[47] These alternatives to prison time are politically appealing because they reduce government prison expenditures while creating a different environment for inmates who committed lower crimes.[48] Additionally, alternatives to incarceration and closed prisons have proved to be more successful in terms of reducing rates of recidivism.[49] Non-violent offenders in these programs and within open prisons are given the opportunity for healing through therapeutic programs, work, or community service, rather than being subject to punitive measures.[50]
Overall, Iceland's approach to incarceration, particularly through open prisons, reflects a unique and progressive attitude toward rehabilitation and reintegration.[51] By providing inmates with greater freedoms, personal responsibility, and a more humane living environment, these facilities blur the lines between incarceration and community living.[52]The alternatives to traditional imprisonment, such as community service and halfway houses, further highlight the country's commitment to reducing recidivism and focusing on rehabilitation rather than punishment.[53] Despite occasional setbacks, like rare escapes or doubts about staff authority, Iceland's system demonstrates a strong belief in offering second chances, especially for non-violent offenders.[54] This approach not only benefits the inmates but also eases the burden on the state, making it a forward-thinking model for others to consider.
[1] Helgi Gunnlaugsson, Criminal Justice in a Small Nordic Country: The Case of Iceland, Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskab 27 (2021), https://tidsskrift.dk/NTfK/article/view/125562/172239.
[2] Pakes, Francis, The Shallow End: Understanding the Prisoner Experience in Iceland’s Open Prisons, School for Criminology and Criminal Justice, at 7 (2023), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26326663231160343.
[3] Id. at 6. (Communal spaces includes a kitchen, dining room, television/game room, small gym, and an outside space.).
[4] Id. at 7.
[5] Id. at 6.
[6] Id. at 8.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id. at 9.
[10] Turner, India, The Need for Rehabilitative Justice in Icelandic Prisons, Pulitzer Center (June 1, 2022), https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/need-rehabilitative-justice-icelandic-prisons.
[11] Pakes, supra note 2, at 9.
[12] Pakes, supra note 2, at 10.
[13] Turner, supra note 10.
[14] Turner, supra note 10.
[15] Turner, supra note 10.
[16] Turner, supra note 10.
[17] See generally Prison Escape: Two on the Run from Kvíabryggja Minimum Security Prison, Iceland Magazine, (Fjölmiðlatorgið ehf. Pub., Jul. 14, 2015), https://icelandmag.is/article/prison-escape-two-run-kviabryggja-minimum-security-prison.
[18] Gunnlaugsson, supra note 1, at 41, 42.
[19] Gunnlaugsson, supra note 1, at 41, 42.
[20] Pakes, supra note 2, at 10.
[21] Pakes, supra note 2, at 10.
[22] Pakes, supra note 2, at 10.
[23] Pakes, supra note 2, at 11.
[24] Dutch Prisoner in Iceland Wishes to Remain Behind Bars, Iceland Monitor (Dec. 22, 2015), https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/news/2015/12/22/dutch_prisoner_in_iceland_wishes_to_remain_behind_b/.
[25]Id.
[26] Pakes, supra note 2, at 10.
[27] Iceland Magazine, supra note 17.
[28] Iceland Magazine, supra note 17.
[29] Iceland Magazine, supra note 17.
[30] Iceland Magazine, supra note 17.
[31] New Sign to help Guards Keep Confused Travelers from Trespassing on Prison Grounds, Iceland Magazine, (May 8, 2017), https://icelandmag.is/article/new-sign-help-guards-keep-confused-travellers-trespassing-prison-grounds.
[32] Id. (showing some signage posted at the entrance of the prison to reduce tourists and outsiders from entering, even though it has not proven to be fully efficient).
[33] Id.
[34] Iceland Monitor, supra note 24.
[35] Report to the Icelandic government on the Visit to Iceland Carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Council of Europe, Strasbourg (Jan. 28, 2020), 16809a3ee3 (coe.int) [hereinafter “CPT”].
[36] Doran Larson, What’s Justice Got to Do with It?, Prison Legal News (Sept. 1, 2020), https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2020/sep/1/whats-justice-got-do-it/.
[37] CPT, supra note 35, at 3.
[38] CPT, supra note 35, at 3.
[39] CPT, supra note 35, at 3.
[40] CPT, supra note 35, at 10.
[41] Helgi Gunnlaugsson, Criminal Justice in Iceland: Recent Prison Developments, 10 Artic & Antarctic 62, 70 (2016), https://iacsi.hi.is/issues/2016_volume_10/2_article_vol_10.pdf; Gunnlaugsson, supra note 1, at 38.
[42]Id.; see also Gunnlaugsson, supra note 1, at 38.
[43] Turner, supra note 10.
[44] Turner, supra note 10.
[45] Turner, supra note 10.
[46] Gunnlaugsson, supra note 41, at 70.
[47] Gunnlaugsson, supra note 41, at 70.
[48] Gunnlaugsson, supra note 41, at 71.
[49] Kjartan Örn Yeoman, Recidivism Among Icelandic Prison Inmates Released in 2009-2011, Reykjavík University, 9 (2015). (A diagram showing that the rate of recidivism for those who attend prison is more than two times the rate of those who are in halfway houses such as Vernd.).
[50] Id.
[51] See generally Pakes, supra note 2, at 7.
[52] See generally id. at 11.
[53] See generally Gunnlaugsson, supra note 41, at 70; Turner, supra note 10; Kjartan Örn Yeoman, supra note 49.
[54] See generally Iceland Magazine, supra note 17; Iceland Magazine, supra note 31; Pakes, supra note 2, at 10.