Even the much lauded Nordic prisons are facing overcrowding and understaffing

Prison reform advocates often point to the Nordic countries as examples of “how to do prison right”. The low rates of imprisonment and more humane approach to incarceration in these countries have long been considered exceptional by researchers.

In Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Iceland, life in prison resembles the outside world as much as possible.

However, like any prison system, they aren’t perfect. Criminal policies in these countries are more punitive than they were 40 years ago. There are a myriad of reasons for this, such as stronger support for conservative political parties and tougher approaches to crime and less reliance on experts in criminal policy.

As a result, Nordic prisons are facing some of the same challenges as prisons in the UK, including overcrowding and understaffing.

Norway

Norwegian prisoners have the right to vote, and their education and medical needs are taken care of by the same teachers and doctors used in the surrounding community. In many prisons, they’re entitled to conjugal visits with their spouse.

Norway’s prison system is praised for its low recidivism rates (only 20% after two years), though it should be noted that many Norwegian prisoners are foreign nationals, half of whom are deported after serving their sentence.

By and large, criminals in Nordic countries are punished through loss of liberty, while retaining other rights. Time in prison is spent trying to help prisoners prepare to live a crime-free life.

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In an annual report on a visit to one Norwegian prison, the Norwegian Parliamentary Ombud raised concerns about rising self-harm incidents, understaffing and extensive use of solitary confinement. There were 20 times as many self-harm incidents in 2022 than four years prior.

Finland

In the 1960s and 70s, Finland had the highest rate of imprisonment in western Europe. Reforms were brought in to address this and by the 1990s they had some of the lowest rates, which they’ve largely maintained. But the trend may be reversing, partly due to tougher criminal policies, with stricter sentences for sexual offences and gun crimes.

Finnish prisons, like those in Norway, are considered innovative. Prisons are designed to be as nice as possible, with prisoners encouraged to govern their own lives and stay connected to their community. The aim is to help them reintegrate into society upon release.

Read more: The dire state of British prisons – and what they could learn from Europe to get better

Last year, Finland’s prison service said that the country’s prisons are full. They raised concerns that due to the capacity, prisoners are not getting enough time out of their cell, nor enough access to meaningful activity.

As well as prisons being overcrowded, they are understaffed. Due to budget cuts between 2006 and 2016, where around 17% of staff had to be cut, there is a shortage of officers across the service who have undertaken the 16-month training programme. Since unqualified officers cannot carry out certain tasks, this puts more pressure on the understaffed, qualified officers.

Denmark

For the last few years, Denmark has also faced challenges of overcrowded prisons. The occupancy level of Danish prisons in 2023 was 101.2% (as in, 1.2% over capacity), the highest in around 80 years. This is the result of changes such as longer prison sentences for rape and violent assaults.

I recently interviewed Danish criminologist Anne Okkels Birk, who said that politicians want prisons to be tougher and harsher.

The current Danish minister of justice, when talking about criminal gangs last year, said harsh punishments are necessary when dealing with serious violence – even if the perpetrator committed the crime at a young age. This stands in contrast to the beliefs often held internationally about Nordic penal policies.

The punitive landscape in Denmark is seeing more infractions, such as smoking inside the prison, punishable by time in disciplinary solitary confinement. In 2019, four times as many people spent time in solitary confinement than in 2001. As a result, prison officers have highlighted concerns about their ability to build positive relations with prisoners.

This makes dynamic security – a technique whereby prison staff assess risks by engaging with prisoners and spending time with them, rather than relying solely on cameras, locks and gates – more difficult. Dynamic security is a regular feature of Nordic prisons, though it is implemented in other prison systems too.

While prisoner numbers have increased, the amount of prison staff has decreased for the 11th consecutive year. In 2023, there were 27% fewer prison officers than a decade prior, due to difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff.

In prisons like Nyborg in Denmark, work foremen – who help improve prisoners’ skills and employability – have had to help prison officers with their duties instead, meaning many workshops are often closed.

Danish prison officers are facing their own personal challenges. A 2020 study into current and former prison officers found that 11% have a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, while their sickness levels are over 50% higher than other state employees. An assault on a prison officer occurs, on average, every day.

The number of people in pre-trial detention in Denmark has increased since 2017, with latest figures stating they make up around 38.8% of the prison population. They are often in their cells alone for up to 23 hours a day, despite being presumed innocent until found guilty.

Denmark is at risk of being short of a thousand prison places this year. In response, the country has agreed to rent 300 prison places in Kosovo. Experts have expressed concerns about human rights issues this agreement may cause, including the difficulty prisoners will have in receiving visits from loved ones. The Committee for the Prevention of Torture expressed concerns on a 2021 visit to Kosovo about the prevalence of corruption among prison officers and physical abuse towards prisoners.

The Nordic countries still provide a source of inspiration regarding their smaller prison populations and more humane approaches to imprisonment. But as political views on crime and punishment evolve, they are clearly not immune from the problems that many countries, including the UK, face.

Kaigan Carrie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.