The Norwegian Prison Where Inmates Are Treated Like People

The Norwegian Prison Where Inmates Are Treated Like People
BASTOY ISLAND, HORTEN, NORWAY - APRIL 11: Jan, 52-years-old sentenced to six months for repeated drunk driving takes a break from collecting potatoes in Bastoy Prison on April 11, 2011 in Bastoy Island, Horten, Norway. Bastoy Prison is a minimum security prison located on Bastoy Island, Norway, about 75 kilometers (46 mi) south of Oslo. The facility is located on a 2.6 square kilometer (1 sq mi) island and hosts 115 inmates. Arne Kvernvik Nilsen, governor of the prison, leads a staff of about 70 prison employees. Of this staff, only five employees remain on the island overnight. Once a prison colony for young boys, the facility now is trying to become 'the first eco-human prison in the world.' Inmates are housed in wooden cottages and work the prison farm. During their free time, inmates have access to horseback riding, fishing, tennis, and cross-country skiing. (Photo by Marco Di Lauro/Reportage by Getty Images)
BASTOY ISLAND, HORTEN, NORWAY - APRIL 11: Jan, 52-years-old sentenced to six months for repeated drunk driving takes a break from collecting potatoes in Bastoy Prison on April 11, 2011 in Bastoy Island, Horten, Norway. Bastoy Prison is a minimum security prison located on Bastoy Island, Norway, about 75 kilometers (46 mi) south of Oslo. The facility is located on a 2.6 square kilometer (1 sq mi) island and hosts 115 inmates. Arne Kvernvik Nilsen, governor of the prison, leads a staff of about 70 prison employees. Of this staff, only five employees remain on the island overnight. Once a prison colony for young boys, the facility now is trying to become 'the first eco-human prison in the world.' Inmates are housed in wooden cottages and work the prison farm. During their free time, inmates have access to horseback riding, fishing, tennis, and cross-country skiing. (Photo by Marco Di Lauro/Reportage by Getty Images)

The first clue that things are done very differently on Bastoy prison island, which lies a couple of miles off the coast in the Oslo fjord, 46 miles south-east of Norway's capital, comes shortly after I board the prison ferry. I'm taken aback slightly when the ferry operative who welcomed me aboard just minutes earlier, and with whom I'm exchanging small talk about the weather, suddenly reveals he is a serving prisoner - doing 14 years for drug smuggling. He notes my surprise, smiles, and takes off a thick glove before offering me his hand. "I'm Petter," he says.

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