When it comes to prisons, the imagination immediately draws harsh conditions with dark, cramped cells. However, there are many correctional facilities that look like … sanatoriums. Indeed, the conditions of stay of criminals there are practically resort-like.
1. Prison on Bastoy Island
Norway is known all over the world for its humane laws, and the prison on Bastoy Island is a real paradise, where dangerous criminals from all over the world dream of getting. It is worth noting that the statement about heaven is not sarcasm at all. This institution really looks more like an expensive sanatorium than a place of detention for especially dangerous criminals, including drug dealers, murderers, rapists and fraudsters. In 2009, the 10-year experiment of "free keeping" of criminals ended, which was crowned with success.
As for the prison itself, it occupies an entire island with magnificent landscapes, located an hour's drive from Oslo, and consists of cozy wooden houses with separate rooms, in which 115 prisoners live. No barbed wire, strict guards and dogs, and the main condition for correction is work from 8:30 to 15:30. Inmates receive $ 10 for their work, which they can spend at a local store. The rest of the time, "guests" can freely move around the island, go in for sports, creativity, relax or visit a psychologist.
2. Luzira in Kampala (Uganda)
The maximum security prison in Kampala is focused on the socialization of prisoners. All criminals live in cozy rooms that differ from the usual idea of prison cells. Here prisoners are engaged in gardening, cleaning, cooking, and many even receive education. Aggressive behavior in inmates is the exception rather than the rule.
3. Halden prison in Norway
Halden Prison is surrounded by 30 hectares of forest and is another resort for dangerous criminals in Norway. The buildings of the prison were built in 2010, and the environment inside allows you to simulate life outside the prison. Each intruder, and there are people convicted of serious crimes sitting here, has his own room with a refrigerator and a TV set. He has access to a shared kitchen and an on-site supermarket once a week.
During the daytime, prisoners can work for a $ 9 wage, exercise, walk in the woods, or play music. Each criminal here has the right to three conversations with relatives a week and a long meeting in a separate house. It is worth noting that despite the humane laws, during the entire existence of Halden Prison, there have been no serious conflicts, fights, attacks on guards or escapes.
4. Onomichi in Japan
Despite all the cruelty of Japanese prisons, there are those among them that are fundamentally different in their way of life. For example, the prison for the elderly in Onomichi. Here, prisoners are provided with neat common cells, soft food and medicines. The prison building is equipped with handrails and ramps for movement. Prisoners can spend their free time reading, knitting or sewing. In short, in Onomichi Prison, unlike other Japanese colonies, old people who have committed atrocities can live the normal life of an elderly person.
5. Aranuez in Spain
Bright rooms with pictures of cartoon characters on the walls are nothing more than the Aranuez prison in Spain. People with young children, pregnant women, as well as newly-made parents are serving their sentences in this prison. The prison authorities are confident that even a sentence for a crime should not ruin families and expose children to suffering. Aranjuez has separate rooms for visiting families, mother and child rooms where women live with small children, and neat shared cells. Those who are serving a sentence with a child are supposed to have good food, long walks, work with psychologists and other entertainment necessary for the normal development of children.
6. Women's Prison in Colombia
The camera photos of this colony in San Diego look more like images from a university dormitory. However, this is a women's prison, where women prisoners get a chance to reform and realize themselves in later life. Every evening, convicts leave the penitentiary to work as a bartender, dishwasher, or cook's assistant.
7. Prison Norgerhaven in the Netherlands
For starters, it's worth noting that the crime rate in the Netherlands is so low that most of the cells in prisons are constantly empty. In order to fill this void, criminals from Norway are sometimes sent there. All cells in the prison are solitary and well furnished. In the small rooms of the prisoners there is a bed, a desk, a refrigerator, a TV and a small bathroom.
8. Oslo men's prison
The men's prison is located right in the center of the city, not far from the mosque. There are both convicts and those awaiting sentencing in prison, a total of 243 people. The entire prison building looks more like a modern entertainment center: stylish interiors with no frills, carpets, upholstered furniture, board games and other attributes that create an atmosphere of comfort and warmth. All cells are solitary and look like a good hotel room. Professional psychologists work at the prison to help get rid of complexes and all sorts of addictions, Olympic champions monitor the physical form of criminals, conduct gymnastics and yoga classes.
9. Otago Corrections Facility in Milburn
The setting at Otago Prison is in no way inferior to a good hotel. The inmates of this correctional institution move on heated floors, use the gym, library and the services of a rehabilitation therapist. In addition, they all live in single rooms with comfortable beds and desks.
10. Center of Justice Leoben, Austria
The building of this prison is a real masterpiece of architecture. For prisoners, comfortable cells are equipped with everything necessary for everyday life. On the territory of the prison there are tennis tables, a gym and a library, open to the public at any time of the day.
Video bonus:
So that no one gets the impression that prison is a continuous rest, we suggest looking at 10 most brutal prisons in the world with inhuman conditions.