Prisons in the Nordic Countries

About this course

For years, American prison administrators and researchers have travelled to the Nordic countries to study humane prison design. At the same time, Nordic politicians have been increasing sentences and making prison life much tougher. How may we understand these contradictory developments? And how just humane are Danish prisons actually? This course provides an in-depth understanding of Nordic prison exceptionalism, current trends in penal policy making, and the process of making changes in prisons.

Faculty

Anne Okkels Birk

Faculty

Diploma in Criminology (University of Copenhagen, 2007). Cand.scient.pol. (Political Science, University of Aarhus, 1997). Head of Section, Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, 1997-2000. Chief Advisor/Head of Section, Danish Prison and Probation Service, 2001-2006. Independent consultant since January 2007. With DIS since 2008.