What Prison Cells Look Like Around The World
More and more people are behind bars. According to the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, over 10.35 million individuals are being held in penal institutions throughout the world, either as pre-trial detainees/remand prisoners or having been convicted and sentenced.
In comparison to the year 2000, the total number of women serving time has increased about 50% while the male prison population has grown by about 18%. But prison population rates vary considerably all around the globe. For instance, the United States have 698 inmates for every 100,000 citizens while Denmark has 61. And there are more differences, too. A prisoner in one place might have access to musical instruments and video games but might be fighting over a roll of toilet paper in another.
Bored Panda has collected photos of cells from all over to show how different countries treat their criminals, and the contrast is eye-opening. The prison cells in this list vary from low security to max security, and while they can't be all compared directly, it gives us a pretty good sense how different countries deal with criminals. It might be due to economic reasons or the way societies value life, but if you found the information above a bit grey, the images below will definitely grab everyone's attention.
#1 Aranjuez Prison, Aranjuez, Spain
Spain's Aranjuez Prison lets parents and children stay with their incarcerated family members. With Disney characters on the walls, a nursery, and a playground, the goal is to prevent kids from realizing, as long as possible, that a parent is behind bars
#2 Luzira Prison, Kampala, Uganda
In Luzira, inmates are assigned more responsibility that would be in similar prisons in the United Kingdom or the USA. Inmates assume responsibility for maintenance of harmony and functionality of the units where they live, including the growing and harvesting of food, its preparation and its distribution within the prison. Learning is encouraged, with many men learning and teaching carpentry skills to others. The guard to prisoner ration in Luzira... Read More
In Luzira, inmates are assigned more responsibility that would be in similar prisons in the United Kingdom or the USA. Inmates assume responsibility for maintenance of harmony and functionality of the units where they live, including the growing and harvesting of food, its preparation and its distribution within the prison. Learning is encouraged, with many men learning and teaching carpentry skills to others. The guard to prisoner ration in Luzira is about 1:35, compared to 1:15 in the UK. Aggression among inmates is the exception and not the rule. The recidivism rate in Luzira is less than 30 percent, compared with 46 percent in the UK and 76 percent in the United States
Seems they are doing the right thing here, focusing much more on rehabilitation than just straight up incarceration.
#3 Bastøy Prison, Horten, Norway
Bastøy prison is the largest low-security prison in Norway. The prison is located at Bastøy island in the Oslo Fiord, belonging to Horten municipality. The prison uses the whole island, but the northern part with the beach Nordbukta is defined as open to the public. The prison is organized as a small local community with about 80 buildings, roads, beach zones, cultural landscape, football field, agricultural land and forest. In addition to... Read More
Bastøy prison is the largest low-security prison in Norway. The prison is located at Bastøy island in the Oslo Fiord, belonging to Horten municipality. The prison uses the whole island, but the northern part with the beach Nordbukta is defined as open to the public. The prison is organized as a small local community with about 80 buildings, roads, beach zones, cultural landscape, football field, agricultural land and forest. In addition to the prison functions, there is a shop, library, information office, health services, church, school, NAV (government social services), dock, ferry service (with its own shipping agency) and a lighthouse with facilities to let for smaller meetings and seminars. On Bastoy prison island, the prisoners, some of whom are murderers and rapists, live in conditions that critics brand 'cushy' and 'luxurious'. Yet it has by far the lowest reoffending rate in Europe
#4 San Diego Medium-Security Women’s Prison, Cartagena, Colombia
Inmates at the San Diego Women’s Prison in Cartagena get a taste of freedom every night as they morph into cooks, waitresses and dishwashers at “Interno,” a colorful restaurant now open in one of the facility’s indoor patios. 25 of the nearly 180 inmates housed here were selected as part of a program looking to help women near the end of their sentences transition back into society. Women at this low-security... Read More
Inmates at the San Diego Women’s Prison in Cartagena get a taste of freedom every night as they morph into cooks, waitresses and dishwashers at “Interno,” a colorful restaurant now open in one of the facility’s indoor patios. 25 of the nearly 180 inmates housed here were selected as part of a program looking to help women near the end of their sentences transition back into society. Women at this low-security prison are serving time for crimes such as theft, drug trafficking and extortion.
More places should do this sort of thing. The women get to leave with a skill/ trade to find a job when they leave so they're less likely to reoffend and the public can see how the prisoners are still humans at the end of the day and would be more likely to employ someone after they're released. Win:win!
#5 Halden Prison, Halden, Norway
Halden Prison is a maximum-security prison in Halden, Norway. It has three main units and receives prisoners from all over the world, but has no conventional security devices. The second-largest prison in Norway, it was established in 2010 with a focus on rehabilitation; its design simulates life outside the prison. Among other activities, sports and music are available to the prisoners, who interact with the unarmed staff to create a... Read More
Halden Prison is a maximum-security prison in Halden, Norway. It has three main units and receives prisoners from all over the world, but has no conventional security devices. The second-largest prison in Norway, it was established in 2010 with a focus on rehabilitation; its design simulates life outside the prison. Among other activities, sports and music are available to the prisoners, who interact with the unarmed staff to create a sense of community. Praised for its humane conditions, Halden Prison has received the Arnstein Arneberg Award for its interior design in 2010 and been the subject of a documentary, but has also received criticism for being too liberal.
#6 Onomichi Prison, Onomichi, Japan
Elderly prisons are becoming more common in Japan as the country continues to age. Onomichi Prison hosts an all-senior population. Inmates have access to handrails, soft food, and spend their working hours knitting and sewing
It's amazing to see how respected and well-treated the elders in Japan are, even in prisons.
#7 Norgerhaven Prison, Veenhuizen, Netherlands
Inmates at the Norgerhaven prison in Veenhuizen, Netherlands, have a bed, furniture, a refrigerator, and a TV in their cells, as well as a private bathroom. The crime rates in the Netherlands are so low, that they faced an “undercrowding” crisis. To solve this “problem”, the country struck a deal with Norway in 2015, to take on their prison overflow. Now part of Norwegian inmates serve their sentences in Norgerhaven.
Norway and the Netherlands are proof that treating your prisoners well doesn't result in increased crime rates, and in fact it contributes to the opposite. It's not just this though - both countries have a better attiude to social welfare generally, and they both have a highly developed culture of egalitariansim and looking out for each other, and this is why Scandiavia and the northwest of Europe contains some of the 'happiest' countries in the world. The every-man-for-himself corporate capitalism of the US is a failure compared to the social democracies of the Vikings and their descendants.
#8 HMP Addiewell, Lothian, Scotland
HMP Addiewell is a learning prison, where residents can address their offending behaviour and the circumstances which led to their imprisonment through Purposeful Activity. Purposeful activities include education, counseling and work. Nature and family contact whilst in prison is also a fundamental element of the rehabilitation process.
I have a friend whose niece was raped by a man sent here. Hopefully his most powerful lesson he will learn will be understanding what the words "no" and "get your hands off me" means...
#9 Black Dolphin Prison, Sol-Iletsk, Russia
At Russia's notorious Black Dolphin Prison on the border of Kazakhstan, inmates share small 50-square-foot cells that are set back behind three sets of steel doors. Inmates live in a "cell within a cell”, with 24-hour surveillance. Black Dolphin houses the most brutal criminals, including serial killers, cannibals, and terrorists. A prison lieutenant told National Geographic, which did a documentary on the facility, that the only way to escape is... Read More
At Russia's notorious Black Dolphin Prison on the border of Kazakhstan, inmates share small 50-square-foot cells that are set back behind three sets of steel doors. Inmates live in a "cell within a cell”, with 24-hour surveillance. Black Dolphin houses the most brutal criminals, including serial killers, cannibals, and terrorists. A prison lieutenant told National Geographic, which did a documentary on the facility, that the only way to escape is by dying. If you combine all the crimes of the inmates, they have killed about 3,500 people. That's an average of five murders per inmate.
I saw that documentary as well. They don't sugar coat your crime. If you are fortunate enough to get out of that place, you won't commit another crime
#10 Champ-Dollon Prison, Geneva, Switzerland
Opened in 1977, the main function of Geneva’s Champ-Dollon prison is to hold prisoners before trial and sentencing. The numbers of inmates is constantly increasing, which has lead to a chronic problem of overcrowding. 115 different nationalities were represented in the prison in 2010 with just 7.2% Swiss.
What do you think ?
My family suffered at the hands of a particularly sick individual and destroyed what little family I had in the process and I wonder if the people who commented here on how 'unfair' some of these conditions were, would feel the same, if they had encountered what we have? My cousin was murdered for the phone he was carrying, no other reason, so why should these people be treated like hotel guests when they smashed to pieces people's lifes?
They still get punishment and depending on their crime, longer or in worse circumstances. That Norway example looks like just any murderer can go there, but obviously that's not true. Inmates are screened to make sure they're mentally stable and unlikely to plot an escape and the vast majority (97%) have served part of their sentences at higher-security jails. The murderer of your cousin (sorry for your loss btw), wouldn't just end up on that island. Still, getting him to change and not murder again, is more important than the primitive need for revenge, because he'd just kill again when he gets out.
See Breivik's cell... oh wait!
maybe he shouldn't get out and just die.
So sorry for your family's loss. It's difficult enough to deal with loss, let alone something so senseless. Sending love your way <3
Thank you. x
Hope, I understand your pain. I've had 6 friends who've been murdered. For murderers, I agree with harsh sentencing and conditions, but I've also had a lot of friends who have been in prison and jail for relatively minor things that pdidn't deserve the same treatment, and deserved training and rehabilitation, but our state doesn't really help prisoners learn to do anything except go back to prison, and that's sad for our community.
I can relate to your feelings (Hope Floats) the drunk driver who took my Mothers life, and seriously harmed other family members, didn't deserve these luxuries in some of these prisons. After it first happened, I hated him so much, I wanted to kill him myself, my heart and soul was over run with HATE. I realized after some time, I couldn't have that much hate inside me, it broke me so to speak and cut me off from the one that that, for me, is everything, thats my relationship with God. I forgave him (inside my heart) and even started to pray for him, long story short, he went to prison for 6 yrs, got out on Mothers day (ironic) and was dead within 3 months, he chose to drink and drive again, this time he killed himself. Some people will never get it, while others do and succeed in turning their lives around.
Exactly.
The nice images are from low security prisons. Those aren't where the murderers go.
It's not fair to compare low security facilities to max security facilities, but other than that, it's proven time and again that harsher conditions just make things worse. Better conditions, more freedom, things to do and learn and more help to reintegrate into society makes crime rates drop.
It is easy to lock away people who break the law. It is very hard to make them contributing members of society. Yet how advanced a society is can be judged by its level of humanity. Norway is a prime example for this. No one would have objected letting Anders Breivik rotting in a hole. Yet he has space to lifr envied by many. After all, this is victory for those believing in a better future for humanity.
It is human to have this desire for vengeance, especially when we are talking about people like Breivik. But I guess you are right, if you want change people, than it is better to treat them like humans than putting them in dark holes.
Vengeance does feel necessary, but it in not a single instance makes the world a better place.
SOCIETY DOESN'T OWE THEM A PATH TO BECOMING "CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS" ! The DO, however, owe the victims of their crimes more than they could possibly pay.
My family suffered at the hands of a particularly sick individual and destroyed what little family I had in the process and I wonder if the people who commented here on how 'unfair' some of these conditions were, would feel the same, if they had encountered what we have? My cousin was murdered for the phone he was carrying, no other reason, so why should these people be treated like hotel guests when they smashed to pieces people's lifes?
They still get punishment and depending on their crime, longer or in worse circumstances. That Norway example looks like just any murderer can go there, but obviously that's not true. Inmates are screened to make sure they're mentally stable and unlikely to plot an escape and the vast majority (97%) have served part of their sentences at higher-security jails. The murderer of your cousin (sorry for your loss btw), wouldn't just end up on that island. Still, getting him to change and not murder again, is more important than the primitive need for revenge, because he'd just kill again when he gets out.
See Breivik's cell... oh wait!
maybe he shouldn't get out and just die.
So sorry for your family's loss. It's difficult enough to deal with loss, let alone something so senseless. Sending love your way <3
Thank you. x
Hope, I understand your pain. I've had 6 friends who've been murdered. For murderers, I agree with harsh sentencing and conditions, but I've also had a lot of friends who have been in prison and jail for relatively minor things that pdidn't deserve the same treatment, and deserved training and rehabilitation, but our state doesn't really help prisoners learn to do anything except go back to prison, and that's sad for our community.
I can relate to your feelings (Hope Floats) the drunk driver who took my Mothers life, and seriously harmed other family members, didn't deserve these luxuries in some of these prisons. After it first happened, I hated him so much, I wanted to kill him myself, my heart and soul was over run with HATE. I realized after some time, I couldn't have that much hate inside me, it broke me so to speak and cut me off from the one that that, for me, is everything, thats my relationship with God. I forgave him (inside my heart) and even started to pray for him, long story short, he went to prison for 6 yrs, got out on Mothers day (ironic) and was dead within 3 months, he chose to drink and drive again, this time he killed himself. Some people will never get it, while others do and succeed in turning their lives around.
Exactly.
The nice images are from low security prisons. Those aren't where the murderers go.
It's not fair to compare low security facilities to max security facilities, but other than that, it's proven time and again that harsher conditions just make things worse. Better conditions, more freedom, things to do and learn and more help to reintegrate into society makes crime rates drop.
It is easy to lock away people who break the law. It is very hard to make them contributing members of society. Yet how advanced a society is can be judged by its level of humanity. Norway is a prime example for this. No one would have objected letting Anders Breivik rotting in a hole. Yet he has space to lifr envied by many. After all, this is victory for those believing in a better future for humanity.
It is human to have this desire for vengeance, especially when we are talking about people like Breivik. But I guess you are right, if you want change people, than it is better to treat them like humans than putting them in dark holes.
Vengeance does feel necessary, but it in not a single instance makes the world a better place.
SOCIETY DOESN'T OWE THEM A PATH TO BECOMING "CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS" ! The DO, however, owe the victims of their crimes more than they could possibly pay.