#open prison

"At Sanganer prison, in the Indian city of Jaipur, inmates get a roof over their head, but no money and no food. This means they must go to work and earn their living beyond the prison gates, writes Masuma Ahuja - as labourers, factory workers, drivers, even yoga teachers."

Understanding Category D ‘Open’ Prisons: Do They Work?

Understanding Category D ‘Open’ Prisons: Do They Work?

The UK prison system is currently divided into 4 categories, ranging from ‘A’ to ‘D’. Establishments in categories A, B or C are ‘closed’ prisons. Inmates in these types of prisons are regarded as ‘not trusted’ to try to escape, and are not permitted to leave the prison grounds.

Category D prisons operate very differently. They’re often…

89 prisoners missing from open prison HMP Ford, police warn

Why Scandinavian Prisons Are Superior

It’s a postcard-perfect day on Suomenlinna Island, in Helsinki’s South Harbor. Warm for the first week of June, day trippers mix with Russian, Dutch, and Chinese tourists sporting sun shades and carrying cones of pink ice cream.

“Is this the prison?” asks a 40-something American woman wearing cargo pants and a floral sleeveless blouse.

Linda, my guide and translator, pauses beside me between the posts of an open picket fence. After six years of teaching as a volunteer inside American prisons, I’ve come from the private college where I work to investigate the Scandinavian reputation for humane prisons. It’s the end of my twelfth prison tour, and I consider the semantics of the question: If you can’t tell whether you’re in a prison, can it be a prison? I’ve never considered this in so many words. Yet I find that I know  the answer, having felt it inside a prison cell in Denmark: There is no punishment so effective as punishment that nowhere announces the intention to punish. Linda is an intern working on a degree in public policy. Young and thoroughly practical, she smiles and says to the tourists, “Yes, you are here.”