Towards the end of April, there was an outbreak of infection in Halden prison. A total of 115 inmates and employees were quarantined.
As a result, a convicted man in his 40s who TV 2 has spoken to in practice was placed in solitary confinement for seven days from 26 March.
– It became an extra strict regime here. We had no access to visits from family or friends. All activities are closed. I was locked up almost around the clock, he says.
The man is serving a longer prison sentence for serious organized crime. He says that there are nine people who are in the same ward as himself, and that everyone was isolated when the infection was to be beaten down in prison.
The nine have together signed a letter that was sent to the man’s defender, in which they express that they fear insulation damage. At worst, he claims he was locked up in the cell for 23 hours and given one hour in the air yard.
– “DON’T CONSENT”: In the letter to his lawyer, the man writes that he does not feel he is participating in a charity event. Photo: Private
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The man tells TV 2 that he lost the feeling of whether it was day or night, and that he eventually became paranoid and felt that someone was with him inside the cell.
– There are several who are mentally ill. I feel I am being mentally injured, the man says, and says that he must receive medication from the prison doctor to handle the situation.
More than 13,000 days of isolation
The corona pandemic has also been an extraordinary challenge for the penal care system.
When the pandemic broke out, several legislative amendments were passed with the intention of giving Norwegian prisons expanded tools to reduce infections that could occur in the prisons.
One of these tools is section 45b of the Execution of Sentences Act. It allows prisons to use community exclusion as an infection prevention measure.
This paragraph has been used extensively over the past year. According to recent figures from the Norwegian Prison and Probation Service, Norwegian prisons have imposed 309,067 hours of exclusion, divided into 2220 exclusions since the pandemic broke out.
In other words, almost 13,000 days of corona isolation have been imposed in Norwegian prisons in the last year.
The use of this section has escalated since the turn of the year, as 105,680 of those exclusion hours have been imposed in the last three months.
Will require shorter sentences
Lawyer Patrick Lundevall-Unger is the defender of the man sentenced to prison. He says he is shocked by the treatment of inmates in Norwegian prisons during the pandemic. He thinks there are many who serve a sentence that is not heard by Norwegian society.
– I think this is a violation of human rights. Someone who zones is vulnerable and mentally struggling. They can not afford to hire a lawyer, he says.
Now he wants those who have been corona isolated to be compensated.
Lundevall-Unger points out that it is standard practice for people who are in solitary confinement when they are in custody to receive a deduction from the penalty. A one-day deduction is then given for each commenced period of time of two days the accused has been in isolation – a so-called isolation deduction. The reason is that insulation is an additional burden and can lead to health damage.
– I believe that precisely these premises must be applied in this case, regardless of whether a person is in custody or whether a person is serving his sentence after the person in question was legally convicted, the lawyer says.
He acknowledges that the issue is unplowed ground for the Prison and Probation Service, but believes that prisoners now risk being subjected to double punishment. Therefore, he will demand a reduced penalty for his client.
– This can not mean that the inmates who sit almost all day in their cell are not entitled to any form of compensation and then I believe that what is outlined above is a correct method to downgrade the sentence. It must result in a reduced penalty, says Lundevall-Unger.
– Very harmful to health
The Prison and Probation Service has been criticized several times before both in Norway and internationally for the use of isolation. Most recently in June, the Civil Ombudsman published one report where they criticized the extent of isolation as an infection control measure.
In 2019, the practice in Norwegian prisons was considered to be a violation of Norwegian law and international human rights standards.
CIVIL AGENT: Hanne Harlem has also previously criticized the Prison and Probation Service for the use of isolation. Photo: Heiko Junge
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Civil ombudsman Hanne Harlem tells TV 2 that there must be extraordinary reasons present if an inmate has to endure isolation.
– This must be weighed on the basis of proportionality and necessity. The isolations carried out in May did not take these criteria into account, and then it is not in accordance with human rights, says Harlem.
– What we are concerned about is that one must be aware that insulation is harmful to health. The risk of infection must be weighed against the health perspective and measures must be taken to limit the damage caused by isolation. I can not consider individual cases now, but I can also not rule out that individual cases may still today come into conflict with human rights.
Defends the use
After the prisons received criticism in June, the infection in Norway decreased, at the same time as the Prison and Probation Service made adjustments to avoid an equally high level of isolation.
CRIMINAL CARE CENTER: Jan-Erik Sandlie. Photo: Trygve Indrelid
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Nevertheless, the use of corona insulation has once again skyrocketed since the turn of the year, and after three months, half as many hours have already been spent as it was used throughout 2020.
Correctional care director Jan-Erik Sandlie explains this with increased infection pressure.
– What has always been our starting point is life and health, and infection control for inmates. One year ago, there was a lot of use of insulation for a period. It went down significantly quite quickly as the infection went down. Now there has been an increased infection pressure. I now hope that our numbers go down and that we do not have to use measures such as isolation to deal with the risk of infection, he says.
He says that the prisons try to compensate for the isolation by giving the inmates iPads, facilitating electronic visits, and easier access by telephone.
Sandlie further points out that there is no scheme that can ensure penalty reduction in current legislation.
May trigger financial compensation
– We have no legal basis in the Execution of Sentences Act to give extra deductions in time, he says.
The same is said by lawyer Marie Hessen-Jacobsen, who sits on the defense group of the Norwegian Bar Association.
She has followed the situation with the expanded use of isolation closely, and believes there is good reason to go to jail.
– There is no legal basis for reducing the penalty. But KDI (the Norwegian Prison and Probation Service) has the opportunity to make a discretionary assessment. For example, you can give a faster transition to lower security, you can give more leave, or earlier probation.
She says there are also opportunities for the inmates in such cases to receive financial compensation.
– If it is serious enough, it will be a violation of the human rights convention. It triggers a compensation, she says.
– Do not feel I am involved in volunteer work
The man in his 40s says he feels he was “treated like an animal” when he was isolated in his cell for a week.
He is in a ward with nine other inmates, and has no understanding of why the nine could not function as one cohort during the period when the pressure of infection in the prison was great.
– We must have restrictions, and we understand that they do not want a corona in prison. But they also say that we are involved in volunteer work. I do not feel I am involved in volunteer work. They just threw us in a cell, he says.
– We are criminals, but we are human. We are in a vulnerable situation, and we are extra vulnerable due to the pandemic.
Just like in the rest of society, many prisons have been closed during the pandemic. The inmates have not been able to go to school, exercise, or have had the opportunity to work in the same way as they usually do.
– We need to get something back. I feel the insulation damage, and several of us could have let go of these insulation damages, he says.
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