– Having chanterelles in a prison loft can not work. It is hair-raising, says leader Eskil Vik Urdal in the prison group of Jussbuss to news. Urdal, who through the organization Jussbuss provides legal aid to inmates, was contacted this autumn by an inmate in Åna prison. The inmate has struggled with addiction before serving his sentence, and had been taken to pick chanterelles in the air yard to get high. Flein mushrooms that grow in forests and nature in Norway can be used as intoxicants. The effect is compared to LSD. Eskil Vik Urdal is the leader of the prison group in Jussbuss. Photo: Eskil Vik Urdal The punishment was exclusion from the air yard for three days. Urdal believes this is a very intrusive measure. – This is a drug addict who is involved in drug-related crime. When you are a former drug addict and drugs grow in the air yard, not everyone is able to resist it, says Urdal. He believes the exclusion from prison was an unnecessary measure, and that the prison should have found other ways to prevent fungal picking. The inmate has through Jussbuss conveyed that he does not want to be interviewed by news, but has accepted that Jussbuss tells his story. news has seen documentation that confirms the inmate’s claims. Juss-Buss has complained to the Civil Ombudsman, who is currently processing the complaint. Leif Magne Viste is prison manager in Åna Prison. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / Ole Andreas Bø / news Will be banned if they pick mushrooms Prison manager Leif Magne Viste knows about the problem. In fact, he informs news that for at least 15 years, chanterelles have grown in the air yard and the inmates are allowed to use them for an hour every day. For just as long, inmates who have tried to pick the mushrooms have been excluded from aeration if they are caught. Since 2019, ten inmates have been excluded from the air yard in Åna prison for mushroom picking. Seraf estimates that about half of the inmates in Norwegian prisons are drug addicts. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / Ole Andreas Bø – We must react in a way that makes it visible that it can not be done. It is trying to take an illegal drug that we react to, but in the most gentle way we can. – Is not the most gentle way you can offer to remove the fungus? – We make the moves we can. We mow frequently and whitewash the lawn. Then it turns out that it can appear from time to time without us being able to remove it, says Viste. Do you have any tips in this case? Feel free to send me an e-mail, or contact me by phone / Signal: 41462909 The prison manager points out that there are not many fungi in question, and that it is only a short period in the autumn that the fungus can appear. – It is not possible to remove completely, then we had to remove the lawn. And we think it is good for the inmates to have a green area where they ventilate, so there will be a balance between usefulness and the disadvantage that it entails. We whitewash it and cut it frequently, and then it will still be able to appear. Researcher: Difficult to resist if you are addicted A report from the Center for Drug and Addiction Research (Seraf) from 2016 shows that about half of all those who go to prison used drugs every day in the period before they were to serve their sentences. Seraf believes this indicates that around half of those serving time in Norwegian prisons were drug addicts when they were imprisoned. Since then, there have been no updated figures on how many drug addicts are serving time in Norwegian prisons. But senior researcher Anne Bukten at Seraf believes the figures from the report may still be valid. Prisoners in Åna prison who are taken for mushroom picking must ventilate alone in a different ventilation yard than this. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / Ole Andreas Bø / news According to Bukten, one of the main criteria for being diagnosed with drug addiction is that the person has a strong need to take drugs. – This means that it can be difficult to avoid taking drugs, if they are available around you. That the prisoner experiences this is thus very natural, as it is at the core of problematic use of drugs, says Bukten to news. The bay will not comment specifically on Åna prison’s fungal fungus practice, but says she reckons that it is in the prison’s interest to remove the fungus. – Reducing accessibility will sound sensible in this case. And that is the prison’s task, she says. Luftegården in Åna prison. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / Ole Andreas Bø Prison manager: The regulations must be followed There are also no updated figures on how many drug addicts serve in Åna prison. Prison manager Viste says the prison also follows up those who break the regulations of the prison with conversations. – We are concerned with adapting it individually to find tools we believe will succeed. It is not necessarily to punish, but to create a right direction. – When you exclude from the air yard due to mushroom picking, is it to punish or to create a right direction? – It is to prevent them from doing so. And then the only reaction is that they are not allowed to ventilate in the main ventilation. But they are offered to ventilate elsewhere, so as not to pick mushrooms. Plus a conversation about where we try to discuss drug issues. Viste confirms that the inmates who are excluded from the main ventilation must ventilate alone in other ventilation yards, without company from other inmates. – Is it not just for the inmates to wait three days and continue to pick mushrooms again? – We continue conversations with them. They get a chance to show that it works. And we try to make that period as short as possible.
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Prisoners are punished for picking up flakes in the prison’s air yard – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
