In January 2021, 38-year-old Frank took his own life in a cell in Bodø prison. The older brother of Guro Martinsen Jakobsen in Kåfjord suddenly became part of the grim suicide statistics. – You are never prepared for someone to leave. And the way it happened is very evil. Since then, in two years, three others have taken their lives in this prison in Nordland. From 2008 until today, figures from the Directorate of Correctional Services show that there have been 71 suicides in Norwegian prisons. For Bodø prison, there has been a very negative development in the last two years. Bodø prison is a high-security prison with room for 56 inmates. Photo: Barbro Andersen / news No one knows why. Neither the Correctional Service nor the police have found that any direct mistakes were made in connection with the suicides. Guro talks about his brother as a dear friend to so many. – He was a playmaker, very social, he was helpful, he had a thousand balls in the air, loved nature and was hardworking. According to her, he had plans to buy a boat to start fishing when he got out of prison. Thought he was safe in prison, Guro believes there was a breach of routine when his brother died in a cell in the high-security prison in Nordland. – He was locked in the cell in the evening at 7pm. Then they found him the next morning. And then he was dead. – That means they haven’t seen Frank at night. He died shortly after he was locked up, she says. The management at Bodø prison will not answer specific questions about how long Frank was unsupervised, due to the duty of confidentiality. He made everyone around him happy, says his sister. According to her, Frank had plans to buy a boat to start fishing when he got out of prison. Photo: Private photo According to his sister, Frank was seriously ill when he was detained in Bodø prison. – We thought he was safe in prison and he wanted to go there himself because it was safe there. There wasn’t much around him. A double grief She says that those closest to her experienced a double grief when Frank died. – It happened so suddenly. But it is also a sadness because it can happen because of a break in routine, as we see it. – Were you afraid earlier that he would take his own life? – He had tried once before to take his own life, and it is in his papers. So that they have not been extra careful when they knew about his background, I also find that very strange. Guro is not satisfied with the follow-up the next of kin have received afterwards. She spoke to the prison once, she called herself the day they found him dead. – Then I said a few well-chosen years, since then I haven’t heard anything. His son has had many unanswered questions. Need someone to talk to? If you need to talk to someone, you can contact these: Mental Health Helpline: Call 116 123 or write to sidetmedord.no. Kirkens SOS: Kirkens SOS is the country’s largest 24-hour crisis service on the phone and internet. Call 22 40 00 40 or chat with someone on the website. The VO line: A helpline for those who experience violence or abuse in close relationships. Call 116 006 or chat with someone on the website. The helpline for sexually abused people: 800 57 000 Cross on the neck is the Red Cross’s service for you under the age of 18. Telephone: 800 333 21. Write or chat on the website. The alarm phone for children and young people: A free phone for children and young people who are exposed to violence, abuse and neglect. Telephone 116 111. Acute risk of suicide? Call 113 when it is urgent and your life is at stake. Call the emergency room on tel. 116117 for emergency assistance. You can also talk to your GP. The head of the prison: – It is deeply tragic. Head of Unit for the Correctional Service in Nordland, Mette Moe, is responsible for the prison in Bodø where Guro’s brother took his life. Moe refers to the duty of confidentiality and therefore cannot comment on this suicide in particular. But on a general basis, she says: .- This is the exact opposite of what we are working for. No case has been opened against the Correctional Service in Nordland after any of the four suicides, she says. Sometimes they have been worried beforehand. Other times it comes as a shock when an inmate in a Norwegian prison chooses to end his life. After a suicide, there is usually more unrest in the ward. Those who serve time in the same department often become anxious and afraid. Mette Moe, unit manager Bodø prison Photo: Barbro Andersen / news – It is deeply tragic. And of course I am thinking of relatives, family and those of our employees who work closest to those who take their own lives. Trade union representative: – Is it something you should have seen? Trade union representative Monica Andersen of the Norwegian Prison and Probation Association says suicide affects the employees. – In many ways, yes. There are some who have had the last conversation, there are some who have future agreements. And you feel quite helpless. – Is there something you should have seen, is there something you should have done… In the department, there is often more unrest when someone in the neighboring cell takes their own life, she says. There will be an increased need for follow-up. Representative Monica Andersen in Bodø prison Photo: Dina Tegnander / news – We often see an increased need for medicine, an increased need to feel seen and heard and to be involved in the processes surrounding such tragic events. Want more people at work The union representatives believe that staffing in the high-security prison in Bodø – which has room for 56 inmates – must be increased. There are simply too few people at work. – It is always a personal tragedy when we have suicides in Norwegian prisons. It is something we try to avoid to the best of our ability, says shop steward Stefan Hagenes in the Professional Association of the Correctional Service. – My claim is that if there are more of us at work, we also have the opportunity to better look after inmates and their needs. That we have time to see the inmates in a good way. Don’t you have it today? Stefan Hagenes, Kriminalomsorgens Yrkesforbund Photo: Private photo – My claim is that we are too few people to take care of our social mission. Risks finding someone without a pulse. He says it’s a burden when they lose someone to suicide. They risk opening a door and finding someone who no longer has a pulse. – Fortunately, we are now good at taking care of each other and we are well followed up on that part. Have you also attempted suicide? – We have had several suicide attempts, yes. The supervisory board at Bodø prison has also spoken out about what they believe is a worrying development. After the first two suicides in 2021, they notified both the Norwegian Correctional Service and the State Administrator. The supervisory board for Bodø prison sent a report of concern to the prison management Photo: Private photo There have been several serious incidents at Bodø prison in the spring of 2021. Including two inmates who have committed suicide and several attempted suicides. This has naturally affected both inmates and staff in the prison (…) In order to look after the inmates both in terms of safety and environmental therapy, as well as the necessary access to health services, the correctional service should have the resources to cover the needs. A tougher environment has developed in the prisons over time, which has been described by both staff and inmates. The Supervisory Board has also described this over several years in the annual reports. There have been several acts of violence in the prison, and several suicides and attempted suicides. Correctional services should have activities and program activities that ensure inmates the opportunity for rehabilitation, progression in the sentence and change in their own lives. (Tilsynsrådet Region Nord, dept. Bodø in a letter of concern to the Department of Correctional Services, region north from 15 June 2021) Long periods without supervision at night The prison management admits that staffing and resources in the correctional service are currently challenging. – We are struggling to keep the level of activity up to what is required. Simply to create meaningful days with the resources we have, says Mette Moe. The requirement is that 85 per cent of the inmates must be in meaningful activity, last year Bodø’s figure was 73 per cent. – It is too low. And she adds: – But I think linking it to suicide is scary. There is nothing that can link staffing directly to the suicides that have occurred in recent years in Bodø prison and in Nordland. She admits that the inmates are unsupervised for a long time at night. – They are unsupervised for a long time at night, unless otherwise decided by health or correctional services. Great degree of hopelessness In recent years, there have been more convicts serving time with anklets than before. Since 2018, there have been more convicts serving their sentences in the community than in prison. As a result, those serving time in prison often have even greater challenges than before. They are sicker, also somatically, explains Moe. – On average, there is a greater load and a tougher environment. Some people experience too much hopelessness without us being able to detect it, neither we nor the health service, says Mette Moe. It is not as simple as more resources can prevent suicide, according to her. – It is about activity, but also about health care, treatment, investigation, municipal health service, specialist health service. Without falling into the trap of blaming someone. Wants a change Frank was hardworking, according to his sister: – He turned on tractors, plowed, he was a man who was never at rest. Photo: Private photo Guro believes the suicide statistics are alarming, not least in Bodø prison. She wants to tell about her brother so that there can be a change, so that others do not have to experience the same thing. – They have to go behind the scenes and see what is happening in Norwegian prisons. If it is due to low staffing, that they may not have enough people to make their rounds, then there may be a breach of rules and regulations. Now it’s time for someone to address this, she says. – The correctional service must ensure that it is actually safe for those who are inside. Because it is not today, it is not safe in the Norwegian prisons, says Guro Martinsen Jakobsen.
ttn-69
