Continue--Prison or paradise?

Foreigners don't understand that we can have murderers, rapists or paedophiles, without them being behind walls and barbed wire," said Oeyvind Alnaes, the prison director."Even if these people have committed terrible crimes, that still does not make them terrible people," he added.The prison is the only one of its kind in Norway and costs less to run that conventional establishments because there are fewer staff. The country also has a surprisingly low crime rate: there were 3,170 people in jail for a population of 4.6 million.The small-time crooks and killers among the population share the prison work from 8:00am to 3:00pm under the supervision of unarmed guards. The inmates and guards call each other by their first names.For Alnaes, it was a revelation to see a muscle-bound hardman with a violent history so moved by the troubled birth of a lamb that he ends up giving it mouth-to-mouth to ensure it survives.'Kurt' and two other prisoners raked over the beach at Bastoey, the only part of the island open to the public, where locals come to relax with no qualms about their neighbours.Kurt is serving a long sentence after a brawl ended badly.As he fixed the harness to the horse drawn metal rakes, he explained: "Very quickly, you understand that you have to respect everybody, that it only works if you work together.""If you have to go to prison, Bastoey is the best place in the world," said "Bjoern', who was jailed for a financial crime."Here you can make something of yourself. You learn to cope alone, to wash, to cook for yourself, to keep a home."But most inmates first had to pass through a more conventional prisons, complete with cells and lock-downs and everything that goes with it.Prisoners had to send an application and the prison management chooses the happy few. "Bastoey, a place for you?" asks a headline on the prison website.After they have completed their seven hours of work, the prisoners are free to relax by the fjord, to walk around the island or play music or work out.The prison even has its own football team competing against teams from local businesses. "We play all our matches at home," said Alnaes with a smile.Lights out is at 11:00pm, by which time the inmates have to be back in the homes that they share. But they are not locked in."The system is based on trust, 100 percent," said Kjell Roar Hansen, one of the guards. "In winter, a single guard accompanies five or six prisoners who go into the woods to collect firewood, each one with their chainsaw."Some prisoners even work on the local ferry service running between the island and the mainland.There has only been one escape attempt in the past six years, said Alnaes. And if you do step out of line, then it is straight back to a conventional prison - a real shock to the system for any prisoner who has tasted life at Bastoey.'Tormod', a father of three serving three years for drugs trafficking, began his sentence in a maximum security prison."Over there, it scared the kids, so their visits were very limited," he recalled. "Here, it's friendly, which allows us to see more of each other."There are no statistics available on how many of Bastoey's graduates re-offend. "But you can see it works," said Alnaes."The prisoners arrive here acting the tough guy. After two months, they are all smiles," he said.He has to be one of the few prison directors to make an annual payment to