Ringe - A New Maximum-security Prison for Young Men and Women in Denmark (From Confinement in Maximum Custody, P 159-173, 1981, David A Wood and Kenneth F Schoen, ed. - See NCJ-77087)

• NCJ Number: 77101
• Author(s): E Andersen
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: D C Heath and Co
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The program of a new maximum-security prison for young men and women in Denmark is described.

Abstract

A principal aim of Ringe Prison in Denmark is to create behavioral opportunities and experiences that will cultivate the kind of responsible behavior required to adjust satisfactorily on the outside. Inmates earn wages and buy their own food. Each housing unit has its own kitchen where inmates cook their own meals. Inmates decide what to cook and when to cook it. One of the unique features of the prison is the creation of the position of 'standard officer.' Standard officers are prepared to work in every job in the prison, from being a leader of one of the groups in the living units, assisting the inmates in managing their social lives and being prepared for release, to being an instructor in a prison industry. Women who cannot be kept in an open prison are also housed at Ringe. Currently, ten female inmates are housed on two wings of the prison with an equal number of men. Social and sexual relations are permitted to transpire between male and female inmates within prison rules for visits and inmate interaction. Thus far, no serious problems have arisen from this arrangement. All inmates are permitted to have conjugal visits. One of the policy provisions of the prison is that the prison staff collaborate with the inmate council in decisionmaking, not only in the living units, but also in the workshops. A question and answer discussion follows the presentation.