H?meenlinna Prison in H?meenlinna

It is a closed prison. It's called "closed," but there are no barriers around or inside the prison. According to Aaltonen, the prison guard here, the high walls and power grids have long been removed and replaced by relatively concealed surveillance cameras and electronic alarm systems. The "cells" here are basically single rooms with TVs, water heaters and desks. Inmates can also bring in "Walkmans", guitars and other entertainment tools.

Aaltonen emphasized that the prison guards here usually do not carry weapons and wear civilian clothes. There are only 10 guns in the entire prison, all of which are kept in safes and are only taken out "to see the light of day" when criminals are transferred. Another prison guard Toivonen said: "We believe that for a person, losing freedom is the biggest punishment."

This is true for "closed" prisons, and even more so for "open" prisons looser. There, the relationship between prison guards and prisoners is quite "equal" and they can call each other by their first names. Prison guards in "open" prisons are more like apartment managers. Inmates are generally called "customers" and younger ones are called "trainees."

Some experts in Finland said that many criminals lived an "abnormal" life before going to prison, but prison allowed them to experience a "relatively normal" life. Therefore, after being released from prison, these criminals Everyone will be eager to continue their normal life and completely change their behavior. According to statistics, the crime rate in Finland continues to decrease. There are currently only 2,700 criminals in prison in Finland, a rate of only 52 per 100,000 people, compared with 720 per 100,000 people in the United States.