OhUsernameWoes

• Recidivism for first time offenders that are young (e.g. teens) is significantly higher than for older people, at least in Finland from what I've read, do you think that's something that the prison time can address or is it more of an issue of how society at large treats young criminals?
• Do you know if the recidivism rate between the Nordic countries are similar or not?
• How do you see repeat offenders overall in Norway? Is it a case of some people simply not being able to work within a society or is it a failure to rehabilitate them.
• Do you think there are some that are outright happier inside Halden prison than outside (e.g. because it gives them structure and order or something along those lines)?

• What do you look for when hiring staff?
• Related, how much of the staff was positive to the shift to the more open/humane prison system? Was there internal strife or was it seen as a good change by the staff. You may not personally have been around as an employee during the shift but I assume you have had contact with some of those who were and still are employed from the nineties or earlier though.
• How well has the infrastructure followed suit in Norway? Halden Prison is a new prison and designed to be less hostile, so to speak, but how well suited are the old prisons? Some of them are in buildings ~100 years old by now so I'd assume they'd aren't as nice to live in as Halden unless there has been extensive renovation work and/or the amounts of inmates in them is decreased from what they had in the past.

Interesting, thanks for the answer to both of you. I was thinking less of the flatscreen tv and more of e.g. shared toilet areas without dividing walls (well, don't know if this is a thing anywhere anymore), less space per person and a lack of privacy overall which you can find in very old buildings that haven't been renovated. Some of that is simple to change but some would require more extensive work. Basically those things doesn't go against treating inmates humanely and as actual people from the staff side, however it is a big difference from how things usually work in society nowadays.