On the right track

On the right track - prison education in Ulvsnesøy, Norway.

Ulvsnesøy is a small island situated approximately twenty-five minutes by train from Bergen. It contains a low security prison which is a department of Bergen prison. Anyone who visits Ulvsnesøy prison – that is teachers, prison officers, other employees and inmates must take the five minutes boat journey from the mainland to the island. Originally a school for maladjusted boys, Ulvsnesøy was converted into an open prison in 1982 and now its adult inmates are free to move around the island.

The 31 inmates, 9 of whom are women, range from 18 to 60 years of age and are convicted of all types of criminal acts, but drug offences predominate.  The key departments: administration, offices and school are in the main building where the female inmates live. There are, in addition, five houses on the island which contain individual accommodation for four or five male inmates who live together with a common kitchen and living area. It is their shared responsibility to keep house and deal with everyday tasks, problems and situations. Apart from the main building and accommodation there is a farm which includes a barn with sheep, pigs and hens, and a greenhouse. There is also a building for carpentry activities, another one for mechanics and a football pitch for the inmates. The idea is that through these small communities the inmates must interact socially in a similar way to society as a whole and thus the inmates develop their social skills. The main thing which strikes me is that everyone appears equal.  There are no uniforms and the lunch is taken in a very typical canteen environment where everyone is eating together. Only when the badges are visible is it possible to distinguish who is staff (teachers or prison officers) and who are the inmates. 

The School

Education is an important and integral part of the activities at the prison. Åsane upper secondary school is responsible for education at Ulvsnesøy as well as the other two departments of Bergen prison. The school has a separate building for mechanics, but most of the theoretical studies take place on the top floor of the main building where inmates study full-time or part-time in subjects such as Music, German, English and Norwegian at upper secondary school level. The visit coordinator and head teacher tells me, “The best way to structure a sentence is through individual learning”. They provide each inmate with an individualized learning program and much of the time the inmate will be following an individual plan with integrated skills development. However, the inmates come together for mixed-ability Mathematics and English classes.

Vocational studies in mechanics and catering are also offered however, the catering is more than just a class; it is a student-run confectionary business, ‘Sweet and Delicious’. In 2003 they started producing cakes which inmates and staff found very tasty. They realized there was a profitable market for commercial production and began marketing the cakes on the mainland. Some of the money generated from production and sale is ploughed back into the business but there is enough profit (100,000 NK per year turnover) to allow the staff to take students to off-island activities such as museums, factories, production companies and ski trips. The philosophy behind the project is to link theoretical subjects to common everyday life situations, and to make theoretical subjects more practically related. Thus students are more easily able to understand and appreciate the value of theory when they see it applied to practical tasks. Another aspect of the project is the integration of general theoretical subjects like Mathematics, Norwegian, English and Science in the hope that the experience of running a business will enable the students to see the necessity of having some knowledge in these subjects and thereby make them more motivated. The general aim is to create a widening of the learning perspective. A by-product of this is that foreign students get introduced to aspects of Norwegian culture related to food and other traditions.

The music project is also far more than a lesson. The music room is similar to an attic studio with a fine selection of instruments. The room has been decorated by the inmates and they keep it spotlessly clean and tidy. Students are encouraged to form bands which they are allowed to continue after their release. One group has remained together for more than three years since release.

The outdoor and non-formal activities are also partly connected to the school. For example, at the time of my visit they were preparing for the annual trip to the Hardanger mountain plateau (with fishing, hiking and preparation of food by catering students). These trips do not come without problems but they are considered to be extremely important for creating different arenas in which to succeed. Other non-formal activities included gathering sheep from the mountain pastures, dog training, rafting and skiing trips.

Åsane upper secondary school, Dept. of Ulvsnesøy, participated in the Grundtvig project PANEL (Positive Aspects of Non-formal Education and Learning, 2006-2009) and is currently coordinator of a new Grundtvig project called ‘Educational toolkit for breaking down walls! Reintegration of offenders’ (VOLT) and they are interested in cooperating with organisations around Europe which contribute to positive development and improvement of their own practice. However, it may be difficult to find examples within the UK system which would provide better practice than this.

Internet for Inmates (IFI)

There are several computer rooms around the main block which resemble computer rooms in a non-prison college. There are sufficient computers in this small prison to provide more than one computer for every two inmates. The rooms also include whiteboards, projectors and ample print facilities.  The IT system which is provided for inmates is known as Internet for Inmates (IFI) and is based on McAfee security.  Communication is filtered by a national centre which also controls the logins. As the Norwegians prefer to use real systems for inmates wherever possible the IFI is a real-life experience. Web-pages are categorised and some categories, such as search engines, are blocked. However, exceptions can be arranged and Google has been allowed as an exception but everything which is searched is recorded. Encyclopedias, libraries and news such as the BBC and newspapers (all over the world) are included but no email or chat facilities are allowed and any form of search on people, especially staff is blocked. Although some links are blocked, the screen is real. It is the same screen that any non-prison user would see. It is not a simulation, and IT user skills developed are transferrable to the non-prison situation.

Usually between 10 and 20% of the inmates require IFI for their study with a University, but others are encouraged to use the internet for occasional study and news. Students in this low security prison have access to learning platforms but communication possibilities vary depending on the requirement of the student and the learning provider with which they are communicating.   For example, one student demonstrates how he can link into ‘Itslearning’, a learning platform similar to Moodle which is commonly used by Norwegian universities and schools. It contains an internal messaging system which allows good communication with his teacher or other students. Those learning platforms which require e-mail may be allowed as an exception. Some students attend school outside the prison which relies on e-mail. If the student does not have access to e-mail the local teacher can assist. Similarly if there is material which cannot be accessed directly, it can be downloaded by staff and loaded onto disk. This principle applies to both students in high and low security prisons. One student I speak to is studying Economics with the Folkeuniversitat (the People’s University) which uses email. He is using his own laptop and complains that he cannot use email except on two days a week when he takes his laptop to the transition school (for those close to release), Fossane, where he has full access to the Internet and email. I tested the IFI system as an inmate and was able to access the Higher and Distance Education research group’s website, the Open University’s library (before login required) and political pages on the BBC, all of which I found through Google.

Although this system appears far superior to the UK’s Virtual Campus in many ways it is not seen as the perfect system by any means. In this open prison all inmates have IFI codes but in the higher security, closed prison, only those inmates on education would be provided with a code. This they see this as a problem. The staff in this low security prison actually considers the IFI to be a step backwards from the fully open system they used to have, especially in relation to email which is no longer possible. One student complains that the IFI system is sometimes very slow or down for maintenance. There are currently 12 prisons in Norway which do not yet have IFI and these will get a cheaper version which is currently being developed.

However, the majority are very happy with their learning and the IFI communication system provided. One student tells me “I’m back on track now ... you have to be thankful that you’re here – everyone will benefit when we get out and get a job.”

Anne Pike 29-9-11