– Most often when I bring people to the office to talk, it’s usually about things others shouldn’t hear, says Truls. He and Michael are each serving their sentence in Verdal prison at the same time as they are volunteers in the Red Cross. In a short time, they have had several visits from fellow inmates who need someone to talk to. – A lot goes into listening to what they say, showing understanding and being a fellow human being, says Michael. Since 2018, 25 people have taken their own lives in Norwegian prisons. 287 people have attempted to take their own lives. This is shown by a new report from the Civil Ombudsman. It reveals clear weaknesses in the correctional service’s work with mapping and prevention of suicides and attempted suicides in Norwegian prisons. Truls talks to fellow inmates in Verdal prison about how they are doing. Many inmates in Norwegian prisons struggle with thoughts of taking their own lives. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news – Our survey shows clear shortcomings when it comes to mapping and follow-up of inmates at risk of suicide. We are very concerned about this, says civil ombudsman Hanne Harlem in a press release. Several inmates who took their own lives lacked an action plan despite the fact that the risk of suicide was known. Others were not assessed for suicide risk, the report states. Harlem says the authorities also lack a good overview of the number of suicide attempts in prisons. – It is urgent to put in place a common understanding of such serious incidents and how they should be reported and included in the preventive work throughout the correctional service. Michael says that listening is an important factor in conversations. He says more people find it relieving to be able to share their thoughts. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news Suicide comes up more often in conversations In addition to the conversation service inside the prisons, the Red Cross also has a visitor service, called the visitor service. Every week, 550 of their volunteers visit prisons across the country. 30 per cent of these have experienced that inmates struggle with suicidal thoughts. 10 percent say that inmates have tried to take their own lives during their sentence. Some of the volunteers have visited prisons over several decades. They notice an increase in conversations about suicide. – Many of them have been involved in a development in the prisons for over 30 and 40 years, so our volunteers also have experience that this topic comes up more often now than it did just ten years ago, says Carola Bercher Ruud. She is responsible for the visitor service in the Red Cross and is concerned about the development. – It says something about the challenges the inmates face in prison, and perhaps also the lack of measures that can be implemented in prisons to reduce the risk of suicide that they face, she says. Carola Becher Ruud is responsible for the visitor service in the Red Cross. She is concerned that more inmates need to talk about thoughts about taking their own life. Photo: Privat Redd inmates will be “punished” The Civil Ombudsman finds it worrying that isolation is highlighted as a preventive measure in the Prison Service’s guidelines. – Research shows that isolation and solitary confinement rather contribute to increasing the risk of suicide, says Harlem. – It is disturbing to see that the prisons’ prevention measures are often limited to averting acute danger. We found few examples of longer-term prevention measures such as increased contact with family and networks, she says. Ruud in the Red Cross says that in several cases volunteers have notified the correctional service of concrete suicide plans. – The challenge is that many of the volunteers refuse to report these things, because it could involve some form of punishment for the inmates. Because the measures implemented after such notifications are more isolation and that inmates have to go into a security cell in the prison, she says. Atle Syvertsen is a senior advisor in the Directorate of Correctional Services. He says volunteers must not hesitate to make contact if they believe there is a risk of suicide. – If for some reason they do not want to involve the prison management, then they can notify the health department in the prison, as the prison also does if they believe there is a risk of suicide among inmates, he says. Christine Wauger Børstad works in Verdal prison. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news – Nice to have volunteers Christine Wauger Børstad works as a return coordinator in Verdal prison. She thinks it is good that some inmates want to work as volunteers. – What we don’t get with us is what happens after we lock up in the evening, after 11.15pm. And that’s when it’s nice to have the volunteers, who are our environmental workers after closing time, she says. – If we were to do something differently, it would have to be that more inmates were given the role of volunteers, which we have here. So that they can work more closely with us if someone says they are going to take their own life.
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The civil ombudsman is concerned about how the risk of suicide is handled in Norwegian prisons – news Trøndelag
