Foreign Policy

The Super-Lux Super Max

From flat-screen TVs to jogging trails, here’s where Norway’s alleged terrorist mastermind could end up.

The man allegedly behind Norway’s devastating terror attacks, Anders Behring Breivik, is now under arrest. And he should count himself lucky for—if entirely undeserving of—a penal system in that country that is among the cushiest in the world. There’s no capital punishment, and the longest jail term allowed is 21 years (a  caveat: if a prisoner is deemed to still be a threat, his sentence can be extended in five-year blocks indefinitely, though it’s  highly unlikely, according to Norwegian officials). In Norway, rehabilitation is the guiding principle, not punishment—a somewhat difficult notion to swallow given the gravity and callousness of his crimes.

Norway’s newest jail may hold rapists and murderers, but Halden Prison—the country’s second largest and  most secure  facility—looks more like a posh sleepaway camp. In fact, architects say they purposely tried to avoid an “institutional feel.” When it opened in 2010, some  news accounts  called it the “most humane” prison in the world.

Indeed, one of the many perks at Halden is flat-screen televisions in inmates’ rooms. There’s no HBO, though, so reruns of Oz and The Wire are contraband. Still, prisoners get private cells with mini-fridges and large windows to let in more sunlight. Here, then, is a quick tour of what luxuries may await Breivik behind bars. (That’s a figure of speech, of course: There are no iron bars at Halden.)

Read more at  Foreign Policy magazine.