short essay 20 hours

PRISON AND REENTRY

The term normalization means that prison life is brought close to normal life. Prisoners are allowed to live a normal life just like they will live after they are released, the aim of which is to let them adapt earlier in advance. On the other side, humanization means treating prisoners like human beings and respecting and trusting them.

There are differences between the Norway system and that of the US. First of all, the prison officials in the Norway system are insulated from political pressures while governors in the US can replace some leaders. The Norwegian attitude towards the prisoners is very different from the American attitude towards their prisoners. Prisoners in Norway live in small communities in the prisons where they can engage in various activities such as farming and learn technical skills (James, 2013). They are also paid to work and use the money to purchase breakfast and super. On the other side, prisoners in the US are not paid and do not cook. The Norway system gives prisoners more liberty than the US system (Chammah, 2017). For example, a prisoner in Norway may be allowed to escort their children to school while in the US prisoners are not allowed to freely walk out of the prisons.

The reoffending rates in Norway are lower than those in the United States because Norwegian prisoners are allowed to live the same life they will experience once they are out of the prisons. The US system is harsher than the Norway system, and this has a huge impact on the reoffending rates. Norwegian prisoners find it easy to live with other community members once they are out of the prisons because their prison life was normalized.

REFERENCES

Chammah, M. (2017). I did it Norway: Some American prisons are singing a European tune. Marshall Project.

James, E. (2013). The Norwegian prison where inmates are treated like people. The Guardian, 25(02), 2013.