Future-Proofing, Collateral Hardening and Decreasing Room for Error in Danish Prisons

• In Event: Corrections Administration and Penal Change

Abstract

The current period in American corrections is a tumultuous one. Consequently, prison experts are increasingly looking internationally—particularly to Scandinavian countries—for models of humane and effective prison administration. In this paper, we draw upon six weeks of ethnographic observation with the Danish Prison and Probation Service, including formal interviews with 12 senior-level Danish prison administrators and prison policy experts, 55 prisoners, and 27 prison staff members, to examine how prison planning, design and operation have evolved in Denmark over the past few decades. Despite a strong historical commitment to the ideals of normalization and resocialization—including an acceptance of imperfection in both the system and the people who comprise it—Danish prison officials have increasingly succumbed to pressure to prioritize preventing error in an uncertain future. This has resulted in inadvertent “hardening” of prison policy, practice and design and a weakening of the Danish Prison and Probation Service’s commitment to its stated humane ideals. By understanding how Danish prison administrators’ decisions to harden the carceral regime affect prisoners and staff on the ground, U.S. prison experts can look to Scandinavia with a more discerning eye for both inspiration and tales of caution.

Authors

• Lori Sexton, University of Missouri - Kansas City

• Keramet Reiter, University of California, Irvine

• Jennifer Sumner, California State University, Dominguez Hills