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Norway: Juvenile prison custody criticised

01 March 1999

The Norwegian Association for Prisons and Care in Freedom (NFF), who organise prison workers and are concerned with the care of offenders, have criticised the use of custodial sentences for those under 18 years of age. NFF leader, Roar Ovreb, said that no juvenile should be held in custody for more than six months; some young people have spent more than a year in prison on remand. Ovreb is also sending a complaint to The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).

The CPT visited Norwegian Prisons in 1993 and in March 1997 and issued reports criticising the use of custody for violating Article 10 of The European Convention for Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It focused on restrictions on correspondence with family members and friends, and controls on visits and access to newspapers. They resulted in the prisoner's isolation which, they said, was unnecessary to investigate crimes that they are suspected of. This isolation can mean that a prisoner can spend 23 hours a day in his/her cell. The committee also found that some prisoners suffered from insomnia, depression, headaches and loss of weight because of what is, in effect, solitary confinement. The CPT also condemned the length of time suspects spent on remand and conditions - in many cases prisoners were sleeping on a concrete floor. They also criticised the length of custodial sentences issued by the court. Many of the prisoners interviewed by the CPT during their 1997 visit maintained that custody was used as a means of psychological pressure to make them confess.