Bastoy Prison (Norwegian: Bastøy fengsel) is a maximum-security prison located on Bastoy Island in Norway, in the municipality of Horten, approximately 75 km (46 miles) south of Oslo. The prison is situated on a 2.6 square kilometer (1 square mile) island and houses 115 inmates. Arne Kvernvik-Nilsen, the prison governor, heads a staff of 69 prison employees, of which only five remain on the island overnight.
Before the current prison, there was a juvenile detention center on the island called the Bastøy Boys' Home. The Norwegian government purchased the island in 1898 for 95,000 kroner, and the correctional facility opened in 1900. In 1915, there was a boys' rebellion here, which was suppressed by Norwegian military forces. A film was made in 2010 about these events called "King of Devil's Island." The rebellion occurred on May 20, 1915, when 30 to 40 boys rallied around four young men who had fled and been recaptured. The group refused to work, armed themselves with farming tools and rocks, cut telephone lines, and then set fire to a barn. The same barn had burned two years prior. When instructors and guards failed to quell the riot, the military was called in. More than a hundred soldiers stormed the island, and two seaplanes, two submarines, and the battleship "Norway" from the Karlsøy Havn naval base in Horten were also summoned. Several boys fled into the woods but were later caught. Officials identified the leader of the rebels as an 18-year-old "gypsy boy" from Kristiania. The other three were identified as his accomplices.
The uprising of 1915 did not put an end to the strict disciplinary methods of the school, which continued until 1953, when the Ministry of Social Affairs took over management. The school was closed on October 1, 1970.
Now the situation has changed and Norway is known for its truly humane penitentiary system, making it the most desirable place where all prisoners dream of going. It is located on the island of Bastoy, just an hour's drive from Oslo, and is accessible only by water transport. There are several beaches, tennis courts, and even a sauna. Instead of being behind bars, the 115 inmates of this amazing prison live in comfortable wooden houses. And what is missing on the island of Bastoy now are barbed wire fences and angry guards with guns and dogs, even though the most hardened criminals of all kinds live there, from drug dealers and swindlers to rapists and murderers.
As for the regime of detention, the main obligation of every prisoner is to work. Everyone has a job, every day from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. The inmates receive a salary of $10 per day, which they can spend on food in the local store, thus providing themselves with breakfast and dinner as desired. Lunch is mandatory for everyone, and it is prepared by the camp cook for both prisoners and guards. In addition, several times a day, the prisoners are required to check in.
The goal of the Bastoy Island prison is not to insult law-abiding citizens of Norway by pampering criminals instead of punishing them, but to change them and allow them to return to society. "The main thing is to create a situation in which the prisoners can open themselves up from a new perspective, start respecting themselves again," says the prison chief, Arne Kvernvik Nielsen.
As amazing as it may sound, the method of this fairy-tale prison works. According to statistics, 20% of criminals who have been in Norwegian prisons end up there again several years after their release. And out of those who were given the opportunity to serve their sentences on Bastoy Island, only 16% are reconvicted.
