Exceptional prison conditions and the quality of prison life: Prison size and prison culture in Norwegian closed prisons
| Author | Janne Helgesen,Per Kristian Granheim,Berit Johnsen |
| Date | 01 November 2011 |
| Published date | 01 November 2011 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370811413819 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
European Journal of Criminology
8(6) 515 –529
© The Author(s) 2011
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370811413819
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Exceptional prison conditions
and the quality of prison life:
Prison size and prison culture
in Norwegian closed prisons
Berit Johnsen, Per Kristian Granheim and
Janne Helgesen
Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy, Norway
Abstract
This paper discusses the quality of prison life and prison size in relation to the notion of
‘Scandinavian exceptionalism’. Using the questionnaires ‘Measuring the Quality of Prison Life’
(MQPL) for prisoners and ‘Staff Measuring the Quality of Prison Life’ (SQL) for staff, data were
collected from all 32 closed prisons in Norway. Based on the assumption that prison officers’
working lives, their perspectives and their values influence prisoners’ quality of life, the main
focus in the paper is on the officers. Small prisons (fewer than 50 prisoners) obtain more positive
results than medium-sized (50–100) and large (more than 100) prisons, on several dimensions
measured. The relationship between officers and prisoners seems to be of better quality in small
prisons than in medium-sized and large prisons. Officers in small prisons also report more positive
relationships with senior management than their colleagues in medium-sized and large prisons.
The results are discussed in light of previous studies on officers and prison working life dynamics.
Keywords
exceptional prison conditions, prison culture, prison size, quality of prison life
Introduction
Lately there has been an international focus on exceptional conditions in Norwegian
prisons (see e.g. Adams, 2010a, 2010b). At the same time there has been an ongoing
discussion of the notion of ‘Scandinavian exceptionalism’ characterized by low
Corresponding author:
Berit Johnsen, Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy, Box 6138 Etterstad, 0602 Oslo, Norway.
Email: berit.johnsen@krus.no
413819EUC8610.1177/1477370811413819Johnsen et al.European Journal of Criminology
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