Like a modest resort.
Many have heard about this place, but few people saw him, and, moreover, was there.
In the early twentieth century the island was threatened by Norwegian boys. “You’ll be rowdy, go to the Basta”, said teachers and parents. Got on Basta — it means completely gone.
Basta: prison on Devil’s island
Source: Rustem Adagamov
1. In 1898, the Norwegian government bought for 95,000 kroner a small Bastøy island 75 kilometers South of Oslo. In accordance with the law of 1896 on street children on the island was organized a boarding school for “difficult” teenagers. It was supposed to correct young offenders through physical labor, hard study and Church. For this project, the Norwegian architect Christian Fürst on the island was built a large Church, a school building, five dormitories for students, many farm buildings and industrial premises. The first pupils of the boarding school arrived on the island on 11 October 1900.
2. The task of those who undertook the correction of the teenagers was not easy. The school gathered the boys from all over the country, from different strata of the population. Someone was in here for a trifling offense, the other for shoplifting, was and scoundrel, got on Basta for violent crimes. For all pupils of the school was set hard (even violent) regime of detention, which provided for corporal punishment, and solitary confinement. Relationships between pupils and staff were built on a system of total control and punishments for the slightest infraction.
3. In addition to classes at a regular school, pupils were engaged in agriculture — worked in the fields and on the farm, and learned professions the Builder, the shoemaker, the tinsmith, the painter, the blacksmith. In addition, the scholars were taught the basics of the theory and practice of navigation. The state schools were staffed by experienced teachers.
4. Time was simple and brutal: it was believed that only punishment and harsh conditions of detention can be re-educate “difficult” teenager. And these penalties, the staff was generous. The school Basta for many years have gained a reputation as one of the harshest institutions of the penitentiary system of Norway.
So severe that on may 20, 1915, at school, a riot broke out with such force that the government had to call for his suppression seaplanes, two submarines and battleship “Norway”, which landed on the captured scholars, the island landing of more than a hundred sailors. In 2010 this event, the Norwegians made a feature film “King of Devil’s island”.
5. After the rebellion, the regime of detention in the boarding school was somewhat mitigated, however, until its closure in 1970, it continued to be notorious for his cruelty against the inmates. Often the teacher missed a simple threat “to send Basta” to deal with the bully and the careless student.
Time flows, changed people, changed Norway. Relations in society become softer, more tolerant. Gone past the brutality of the pre-war years, Norwegians have become more humane to treat people who mess up. There were programs more efficient return to society of citizens in conflict with the law. Cruelty ceased to be the basis of punishment, was replaced by humanism and restraint. This wave Bastøy island became a place of interesting experiment, which began in 1982, when, in place of a boarding school with a cruel regime, there was a prison where no fences, walls, barbed wire and lookout towers. There was a famous prison Basta, I’ll show you now.
Getting here was not easy, had to ask for the assistance of my Norwegian friend, the lawyer Brune Risnes, and a few months to wait for the invitation from the management of Norwegian prisons. But it was worth it — you will see the detailed photo and video report (at the end of the story) that is the world-famous prison on the island Bastøy.
Card prison Bastøy:
6. The road to Basta starts here, at the ferry terminal in the city of Horten. There are large car ferries, and the side, with a small jetty, moored small, designed for a couple of cars or one truck, ferry Basto. He belongs to the prison and everyone who works on it (except the skipper), prisoners (or as they say in Russia — convicts). So with the inmates of Bastøy face directly, only stepping on Board the ferry. Just a ferry operates a team of 15 people who follow each other every few flights.
Working on the ferry to get the profession of port worker, it is easy to get a job, once free. In Norway, for serious crimes the first third of the time spend in prison, then go to General, where conditions are softer, and after two thirds if no serious objections come loose. Jon, it turns out, a year left.
7. The ferry is twenty minutes. Here and the Marina. We on Busta — prison island. There are no just people, there is only prison officers and prisoners.
According to statistics, about 90% received the sentence in Norway for murder were familiar to his victims, ie is basically a crime on home soil.
8. A minibus takes us along the country road to the administration building of the prison.
9. The prison Director Tom Eberhardt Basta — passionate people, passionate about humane methods of dealing with criminals. Maybe its jail talk for hours. Tom was our guide throughout the day. The school corridors. Now here the prison and canteen for employees, in which we invited Tom.
Having lunch in the prison canteen prison officers and some inmates. In General, the inmates prepare themselves in home kitchens.
11. The poster in the hallway of electronic bracelets as a control is an increasingly common form of punishment in Norway. It is written: “On the way from prison to freedom.” To hold a person in prison is expensive, so use these bracelets to monitor movement. Jail in Norway is not so easy — many are waiting for the “landing” while waiting at home. The wait is counted in the sentence and sometimes the person all the punishment he is serving in such anticipation.
12. View of the island from above. Large part O. Basta is a forest — a favorite place of walks of the prisoners. There are no walls or fences.
13. Here is the territory of the prison. In the center, carpentry workshop, I will show you. Now Basta contains 115 prisoners. Most of them are killers, rapists, drug dealers. That is, people with a long imprisonment. They are served by 72 employees. Per inmate employees in Basta is significantly less than in other prisons. Staff are not armed. At night almost everyone leaves the island home, the criminals remain the only four employees of the prison.
14. View of the Church from the window of the prison Director. Place evening get-togethers and General meetings of the prisoners. Over the years, this prison was not a single case of a serious conflict between serving a sentence.
15. Phone booth near the Church. Hence, any inmate can call every day and talk all you want, without restrictions. In the extreme left box someone, as you can see, use this opportunity.
16. The Church in Norway is Protestant and is part of the state. The priests government officials and the local priest is included in the staff. At the service on Sunday come willingly. Muslims have their prayer room.
17. An idyllic Norwegian landscape from the window of the Church.
18. An important part of prison life — prison store. It is the same as an ordinary Norwegian shops, only open in the evening, when the inmates ends with school and work.
19. Here everything is familiar for the Norwegian, there is even a machine for cutting bread, as everywhere else.
24. Prisoners have no cash, the whole of their earnings is transferred to the Bank card, it they are calculated in the store. 65 to 70 kroner per day which earn here, it’s a bit, of course, but once a week to buy something nice to the table, and especially by sharing the cost with neighbors is quite expensive. And relatives help. The store is a Supplement to the normal diet of a punishment.
25. This is a local “club” —a library and a reading room. One of the historical buildings constructed on the island during the establishment of a boarding school. Right on the bench sits one of the prisoners, he will interview someone from the staff. Once a week the island is visited by the psychologist here working clinic with two health workers, regularly come to the physician and dentist.
26. The prison library with books, coffee, chess.
27. Shelves with movies on DVD. Serving sentences on the island, you can enjoy the Internet, there is a special room with computers (at the Church). Access only under the supervision of a staff member, use the Network only with one limitation — no communication with the outside world, i.e. no social networks, no instant messenger, no email, no access.
28. There are national Newspapers, local and even the Communist Klassekampen, which is not so simple to buy on the outside.
29. The prison landscape. Planted young Apple trees.
30. Konica’s name is Egil. Men somewhere on this stuff. It is easy to distinguish the inmates from the guards — the latter is always in the form, and the inmates in the home.
31. As the prisoners live in prison Basta? So.
32. This section houses live two Russian guys from Lithuania. Time they are large, presumably drug traffickers or dealers.
33. The kitchen in the house with everything you need, including a dishwasher.
34. The cleanliness and order should themselves clerks, cleaners not here. As there is no punishment for violations in the form of isolation, for example. Punished with a money fine. On Basta difficult to get select the candidates, the officers and many are waiting for a place here for three or four months.
35. Common room in the house. Often prisoners spend their money on a subscription to entertainment cable channels. In the house, in addition to electric batteries, is a stove, which is heated with firewood (all in ordinary Norwegian house).
36. Private room one of the prisoners. The inmates must be in the house from 22:30 to 7:00. Everything needs to work or study every day from 8:00 to 14:30. The rest of the time prisoners are left to themselves. You can walk through the woods, ride a bike (the main transport here), sports, fishing. On the island good sandy beach and in summer it is possible to sunbathe and swim. Has its own football team “Basta”, it takes part in different tournaments (on the road does not go — it does not have funds).
37. Residential areas of devil’s island.
38. Live here, too, are serving sentences on the island.
39. And here.
40. And it is also “prison barracks”. Please note that the grill is a must equipment at home for inmates at Bastøy.
41. In the prison greenhouse grown vegetables — tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers. About a quarter of the harvested crop is sold in regular stores. Here do not use chemical fertilizers, only organic, which is prepared by themselves, from the waste of its own production.
42. Go look at the chickens. One on Basta has an indoor area, so it’s a cock of the family. Chicken regularly issued at 250 eggs per day.
43. Part of the daily “catch”.
44. On the edge of the forest grazing cows of devil’s island. That they have a positive impact on dangerous criminals. Well, the milk they supply at the same time.
45. Island harvest firewood for sale. All the penny to the prison cashier.
46. The prison stables. While the old Egil carries the cart with the men, horses rest in the stalls. All of the island’s six horses — one gelding, a stallion and four fillies. Left the Burke — senior horse family at Basta.
47. Oats for horses are grown here, near the stables.
48. In the carpentry workshop.
49. Joiner cutter computer controlled…
50. Wood is the main construction material in Norway. Here and Basta out of him what did not do.
51. Here, a sawmill, and a collection of garden furniture.
52. And here collect garden houses for sale.
53. To the right is one of the oldest buildings left over from boarding school. There are classrooms and a medical center. At Basta you can get almost any kind of education, including higher. Tom recalled one elderly prisoner, who managed to get seven diplomas during his stay on the island.
54. Filling up at Basta.
55. Go back to the dock, coming soon our ferry. A sign on the left says that prisoners continue to not walk. Actually you can, but with the permission of the administration — there is a house for meetings with relatives, he’s right next to the Marina.
56. Here it is. Visits from relatives serving sentences are allowed once a week for three hours. At night while relatives do not leave, but, as he said, “we are working in this direction.”
57. Inside the house for a date, as usual — clean, bright, cozy. There is a kitchen, a large room for children. In the yard a swing and a slide. Here, near the beach, I was talking about. In the summer you can walk the whole family.
58. Children’s room with toys and TV.
59. Kitchen. There’s no dishwasher, and microwave some kind of old — it’s a disgrace, I think. Well, how so? Hands that you wash the dishes?
60. Well, you wait, I finished my story about the prison Bastøy. The ferry departs from the pier.
Relapse after his release on Basta — about 16%. On average across the country — 20%. Basta willing to share their experience, they are going to open in Romania and the Czech Republic. The Romanians were interested in what a prison is for the budget much more cheaply. Tom Eberhardt am sure that after a strict regime society gets dangerous for a man. After he returns home Bastøy normal, not disfigured mentally and physically.
— When they are released, says Tom, will be your neighbors. — Ask yourself, who would you like to see in place of your neighbor — a man emerging from a terrible prison cell, or completed their sentences on Basta? It seems to me that the answer to this question is obvious.
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