David Faris (43) in cage number six leans against the grid. He signs a statement from the prison management that he wants to talk to us. This is his outdoor time, the only opportunity to get fresh air. – I can choose to come out here for three hours every day. Then I’m in this cage. The rest of the day I’m in the cell, says Faris. The outdoor cell is around three meters wide and ten meters deep. In the air yard of the high-security California State Prison (SAC), such cell cages are close together. Inside each of them is an inmate. Some exercise, others read. Some just look empty in the air. For 25 years, this has been David Faris’ life. 80-year sentence He has been in prison since he was 18 years old, but came to this prison in 2019. – I got a life sentence, but I hope to be released in two years or something like that, he says. The reality is a little different, the prison management tells news. Daid Faris is happy to talk to news. He has been inside for his entire adult life, since he was 18. Photo: Meira Valtonen / news 2057 is the earliest possible time Davis Faris can be released. He then spent 58 years in prison. He is serving a sentence for an armed sexual assault and a number of other crimes: carjacking, robbery, armed assault, kidnapping and fleeing the police. Together, the offenses carry a penalty of 80 years. – What is it like to be here? – There is a lot of security, says Faris. He smiles crookedly as he looks at us through the grille, at face level. – But I hear that there are changes underway? Emergency preparedness The change David Faris is referring to involves methods and mindsets taken from Norwegian correctional services. Because something has to happen in the California prison system. More than 100,000 people serve time here. Many of the prisons are overcrowded and struggling with staffing. Violence is a big problem. Life in prison can be dangerous, both for inmates and staff. – My body is on alert as soon as I walk through the gate here, says prison officer Chad Darling to news. Chad Darling has a challenging job. The body is in constant alert. The average life expectancy of prison officers in the United States is 59–62 years. For American men overall, it is 77.5 years Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news He tells of inmates who throw urine and faeces at him when he enters their cells. “Getting gassed”, it’s called here. Darling has worked at SAC for over 20 years. Nevertheless, he does not relax for a second during the eight hours he is on duty. – I kind of always wait for something bad to happen, because it usually does. – A violent place California State Prison is located next to the legendary Folsom prison, which Johnny Cash made famous through the song of the same name. But there is not much music within these barbed wire fences. – This is a very violent place. We have had 700 incidents so far this year. It’s everything from stabbing to murder. Here there are gangs that fight both with each other and with us, says Darling. Now he and other employees at SAC will learn from colleagues from Norway. The goal is a safer and better everyday life for both them and the inmates. Prison officers in black and blue Norwegian uniforms stand in front of the cages of David Faris and the other inmates. From a distance it looks like they are visiting a zoo. But there are people inside the cages. The guests will share experiences from everyday work in Norway, and show their American colleagues how they talk to inmates on a daily basis. It is demanding, because in this prison there is little time and resources for small talk. But the payoff can be great. Want to change the culture – We have tried out some things in Norwegian correctional services that have been successful. We call it dynamic security, instead of just physical security, explains Sondre Forbregd. He works on a daily basis in Romerike prison, but in recent months he has held courses for colleagues in several American states. Sondre Forbregd and two American colleagues discuss how a resource team works. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news Prison director Jeff Lynch is aware of what Forbregd and the other visitors can contribute: – As long as I have been here, we have taken care of the inmates in one way. Norway can help us change culture, he explains. Lynch has worked at SAC for more than 20 years and knows what he’s talking about. In Norway, the goal for everyone in prison, apart from remand prisoners, is for them to return to society at large. Become someone’s “good neighbour” in the future. In that case, natural contact and communication between inmates and staff is important. And this is where the Norwegian guests can contribute. Sondre Forbregd and an American psychologist talk to two inmates outside their cells in the high-security prison in Folsom. Photo: Meira Valtonen / news A large proportion of the 1,850 inmates at California State Prison are at the highest security level in the prison system in the USA. They serve long sentences, most often for murder and other violent crimes. Cages and handcuffs are used a lot. – We spend a lot of time every day transporting inmates from one place to another. From cells to health clinic, from air farm to cell. It’s a lot of ‘us against them’, explains prison director Lynch. – Avoid things that can be broken Sondre Forbregd and the other Norwegian officers stand and look around in the waiting room of the mental health clinic in the American prison. There is a lot of physical security here. Around us, inmates in white suits sit in smaller white cages, with their own toilets and Plexiglas windows. Aaron Conrad, in the middle, has the job of organizing therapy sessions for the many inmates at the Folsom prison who need it. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news – The people in this part of the prison are mentally ill. They need a lot of treatment, explains prison officer Aaron Conrad. The Norwegian officers bend down and strike up a conversation with a man in one cage. They talk to him about which books he likes and where he comes from. The man answers willingly away, despite the fact that he is sitting as if at an exhibition, while the Norwegian guests move around him. He asks Sondre Forbregd what he thinks about them being there. The answer is surprising: – He thought it was great. That it was nice to see people. It probably means that he doesn’t see that many people on a daily basis, he says, a little surprised. In a meeting room, the employees have decorated a kind of living room. A sofa group and a coffee table stand in one corner. A refrigerator in the other. Here they will practice everyday life with the inmates, for example by playing chess. Forbregd trains them in how they can avoid ending up in a dangerous situation, if they are in here with an inmate who is going to have a break from the cell. One of the topics they talk about is normal interaction with inmates without handcuffs. The Norwegians ask their American colleagues to think about where they are in the room and how many there are. They advise them to always stand closest to the door, perhaps one inside and one outside. Sondre Forbregd believes the chairs on the right in the picture are too light and should be removed from the living room if acting out inmates are to be brought here. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news Forbregd scans the room and lifts up a light chair that is next to the coffee table. – Such chairs are easy to throw around. Remove things that inmates can use to attack you with, he says. A coffee maker on top of the fridge is also not approved. – It is best to avoid things that can be broken. Meeting society again The “Norwegian model” seems labor intensive. So what’s the point? – This is about preventing new crime. That when or if they get out, they should be able to live side by side with your grandmother or become neighbors with someone else, explains Sondre Forbregd. – If you sit in isolation for 30 years, it is difficult to meet society again, he emphasizes. Norske Sondre Forbregd has held courses in several American prisons. Photo: Tove Bjørgaas / news California State Prison wants to establish so-called resource teams. There is a group of specially qualified employees who will take care of the most vulnerable inmates. For example, bring them out of isolation and give them new impulses. In order for it to go smoothly, teamwork is required. In California, several prisons are now starting to work according to a model where rehabilitation, or return to society, will be given greater focus – not just punishment. Gloomy statistics Prison officer Chad Darling admits that he was initially skeptical of the Norwegian ideas about conversation rather than handcuffs and cages. He is still convinced that there are big differences between California and Norway. At the same time, he has realized that change is absolutely necessary. Because Darling likes his job, although he does not hide that the high salary is an important reason for that. Chad Darling readily admits that the high salary is an important reason why he perseveres in his job as a prison officer. Photo: Meira Valtonen / news The harsh conditions in prisons in the USA often take a toll on the mental health of the employees. Many suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome. In fact, the incidence is higher among prison staff than among war veterans, according to the Public Health and Human Rights Program Amend at the University of San Francisco. The average life expectancy of prison officers in the United States is 59–62 years. For American men overall, it is 77.5 years, according to a study carried out for the US Department of Justice. Chad Darling believes it is worth trying something new so that he and those he looks after will have a better everyday life. That is why he is soon traveling to Norway on a study trip. – I think this can work. We just have to make it ours. Norway can probably teach us a lot about treating everyone as human beings.
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From life in a cage to the Norwegian method – Urix
