The case in summary: Prison officer and Ap politician Klaus Lintho criticizes the government’s treatment of correctional services and believes the budget increase is minimal. In the proposal for the state budget, the government will increase the budget for correctional services by NOK 200 million, most of which will be spent on juvenile and juvenile offenders. Lintho believes that not enough money is set aside to run the prisons, and that there is close to zero kroner left for increased operations after various projects have been financed. He claims that security in the prisons has weakened, with an increase in violence and threats against staff and isolation. Despite promises of improvement from the Labor Party’s justice policy spokesperson Hadia Tajik and state secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Services John-Erik Vika (Sp), Lintho believes that time has run out. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – The drawer is not comprehensive. I get so provoked that I almost cry, says Klaus Lintho. He is a prison officer in Halden prison and a trustee in the Norwegian Prison and Welfare Association (NFF). He is also an Ap politician in the county council in Østfold. Now he has had enough of how the Labor Party treats correctional facilities. It is the proposal for next year’s state budget that has caused Lintho to boil over. – The correctional service does not get anything close to what Ap was elected on. It is worse now than when they started the so-called rebuilding of the agency. NOK zero for increased operations In the proposal for the state budget, the government will increase the budget for correctional services by NOK 200 million. 145 million will be spent on juvenile and juvenile criminals. Among other things, the construction of more prison places for minors and the implementation of detention with ankle chains. Lintho agrees that it is important to strengthen work around children and young people. But when no more money is set aside to run the prisons, the math doesn’t add up, he says. Lintho says that the lack of prison officers means that inmates sometimes stay in their cells for far too long. Photo: Tom Edvinsen / news – We are left with 55 million. The government writes that it will go towards maintaining the activity. One must no longer strengthen staffing, strengthen the activity or improve the content. Lintho says that the money will also go to: Preliminary design of a new women’s prison. Photo: Odd Skjerdal / news He says a parliamentary representative has checked how much money is left for running the prisons when this is done. – I got back that it is quite close to zero. Don’t think anything is happening In recent years, staff in the correctional service have repeatedly sounded the alarm about what is going on behind the walls. Among other things, news has written about inmates who brewed beer in Halden prison, and about Eidsberg prison which had to keep half of the cell doors closed every day. And it is far from the first time Lintho has called out warnings. He says that he has informed various bodies in his party several times. Nevertheless, the investment that Labor has promised does not materialize. – They know about it, yet nothing happens. Promises improvement Hadia Tajik, justice policy spokesperson for the Labor Party, says Lintho is right that the situation in correctional services is under pressure. She admits that the sums the government has allocated in the last three years have not been enough. Hadia Tajik, spokeswoman for justice policy in the Labor Party Photo: Mariam Eltervåg Cissé / news At the same time, Tajik emphasizes that the party believes it is important to spend more money on correctional facilities. – Inmates must at one point or another leave and become your or my neighbour. It is therefore necessary to increase basic staffing and strengthen the content of the prisons, with more focus on rehabilitation. It will prevent new crime and make Norway safer. Best possible conditions State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Services John-Erik Vika (Sp) also says he is aware of the situation. He writes in an e-mail to news that the staff in the correctional service have an important role, both in looking after the inmates and convicts, and for the protection of society. John-Erik Vika (Sp), State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Emergency Preparedness Photo: Rune Kongsro – I am concerned that the employees should have the best possible conditions to do their job. We therefore want to improve the financial situation in correctional services, but this requires work over time. Having given up, however, Lintho believes that time has run out and that they have little to go on. – We have an explosive increase in violence and threats against employees. There are more weapons in the prisons, there is smuggling of drugs and other illegal items. Security is weakened. It is not only the safety of the employees Lintho says is weakened, but also the safety of the inmates and the community. There are not enough prison officers to carry out good rehabilitation of inmates, believes prison officer and Ap politician, Klaus Lintho. Photo: Håkon Hov Martinsen / news But as of today, there are not enough skilled prison officers to improve the situation, says Lintho. Tommy Fredriksen, deputy chairman of the NFF, says the same. In an article in the online newspaper Fri Fagbevegelse, he writes that the correctional service already lacked 500 prison officers last year. And although Lintho believes he will always be a Labor man, the cup of disappointments has now run dry. – I have given up. The investment that has been promised, it has not happened. Hello, Thank you for reading the matter. Feel free to get in touch if you have thoughts about what you have read or tips for other matters I should look into. Published 24.10.2024, at 20.51
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Prison officer and Ap politician chastises the Labor Party – news Østfold – Local news, TV and radio
