The government promised to create more children’s places in the prisons – two years later none have been opened

The case in summary:

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Two prison places for children and young people at Eidsvoll prison are empty due to a lack of staff.
Meanwhile, children have been detained with adult criminals in adult prisons.
The government has received criticism for its slowness in opening these two nurseries.
There are currently only eight specially adapted places for children and young people in Norwegian prisons. There are few, says the Directorate of Correctional Services. When these places are full, children are put in adult prison.
Putting children in adult prison as we do in Norway is a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, says the researcher.
After promising it for two years, the government allocated NOK 11 million in 2023 to hire the necessary staff for the two new youth places at Romerike prison in Eidsvoll. The places have not yet been opened. There is no concrete date for when the places will open.

The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by NRK’s journalists before publication.

At Eidsvoll prison, two prison places for children and young people are ready.

But no one works there. The spaces are not in use.

Children and young people must instead sit in custody with adult criminals.

At the beginning of February at the latest, a 15-year-old boy had to sit in custody with adult inmates after a stabbing at Greenland in Oslo, because the youth places were full.

For over two years, the government has said that they will open the two prisons.

– A minister of justice who does not understand the seriousness

NRK has spoken to several political parties. They are united in their criticism of the government, and believe it is taking too long to open these two nurseries.

Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Scanpix

Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde, representative of the Conservative Party

– We have a minister of justice who does not understand the seriousness. She wastes the police’s funds and prioritizes reversal and the police office rather than dealing with increased youth crime. It is unsustainable.

If the spaces have been built and are ready, it is difficult to understand why they are not opened.

If the government does not act, we must get the Storting to demand that it be put in place.

Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Scanpix

Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde, representative of the Conservative Party

– But the Conservative Party said no to creating these places at all, when you were in government?

– Youth crime was much lower then. Now it has exploded, and we need these spaces now.

Ole Oskar Eriksen

Arild Hermstad, party leader MDG

– It is incredibly weak of the government that they have failed to deliver on creating more places for children and young people. This is a very important issue for these children.

It is unsustainable that they do not give this a higher priority and have already got this in place.

They already promised it in 2021, I don’t understand why it’s taking so long, and that they’re waiting until 2024 to get only two new places in place.

William Jobling / NRK

Andreas Sjalg Unneland, justice policy spokesperson SV

– It goes too slowly. In relation to the level of ambition the government has said it has for correctional facilities, we would have expected stronger lye.

There is a parliamentary majority to prioritize this, so here it is simply up to the government’s will. It is a disturbing situation.

Children should not go to prisons.

Knut Røsrud / Mari Ranheim

Tor André Johnsen, member of the justice committee, Frp:

– The two new places have been ready for a long time, but the government did not provide the funds for operation. It’s shocking.

It’s like building a house and not moving in, even if you need housing.

When I was there last year, the correctional service was frustrated, and asked for funds to open the places.

It is unacceptable that these have still not been opened.

He is disappointed that the Conservative Party said no to the children’s and youth places in 2019.

William Jobling / NRK

Tobias Drevland Lund, parliamentary representative Rødt

– No minors shall sit in prison with adults in Norway. We should have come further than that, so we react strongly to this.

It can be a recruitment arena for further criminal careers, if children and young people come into contact with adult organized criminals in prison.

The work the government has done is far from enough.

Full in the children’s prisons

There are currently only eight specially adapted places for children and young people in Norwegian prisons. Four of them are at Bjørgvin prison in Bergen and four are at Romerike prison in Eidsvoll.

This is how the eight children’s places work

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In the past, children between the ages of 15 and 18 were put in a regular prison for adults. But research showed that it was not good for the children, and in 2009 four specially designed places for children were created at Bjørgvin prison in Bergen.

Seven years later, the offer was expanded when four more places for children were created at Romerike prison in Eidsvoll.

At these eight places, the children receive specially adapted follow-up.

Because it gets full at Bjørgvin and Romerike, the Solberg government created three temporary detention places as a form of children’s place at Eidsberg prison in 2019.

Eidsberg prison is an adult prison. The children who are placed here receive less follow-up than the children in the Bjørgvin and Romerike children’s prisons, and they do not have access to the interdisciplinary team that works with the children in the children’s prisons.

At the temporary places in Eidsberg, the children are also in contact with adult criminals.

This is confirmed by Allan Arnesen, prison inspector at Indre Østfold prison, which includes Eidsberg prison.

In 2019, the Ministry of Justice asked the Directorate of Correctional Services to assess whether it was sufficient, or whether more was needed.

In line with the increasing youth crime, the Directorate of Correctional Services recommended the creation of four more places, to get a total of twelve youth places.

But the children’s places are so expensive, replied the Solberg government. No new places were created.

Only two places left

At the change of power two years later, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre promised that they would create the missing youth places.

But no money was set aside either in 2022 or in 2023.

Only in the state budget the following year did the government give NOK 11 million to establish two, not four, new youth places at Romerike prison in Eidsvoll.

The building is there, ready for use. But no one works there.

The two additional children’s places are still not available.

In the meantime, children must sit in custody with adult criminals in Eidsberg prison when the eight children’s places are full.

There is no concrete date for when the two new places will open.

– Norway violates the Convention on the Rights of the Child

– Eidsberg is a high-security prison for adults. Children must not sit on Eidsbergsays Professor at Vid University College, Elisabeth Fransson.

She is researching the execution of sentences for children and young people in correctional facilities, and is concerned.

– An adult prison is not suitable for children. Being incarcerated in an adult prison involves a lot of isolation, with relatively few prison officers who have to distribute their time among many inmates, she explains.

The children can therefore be left alone with stressful and scary questions about their future lives.

– It may be the first time they are away from home. Many are afraid. Children under 18 are in a developmental phase where identity is created, and they are affected by life in prison.

In prison, they are also in such a vulnerable situation that they can be exploited by adult inmates both while they are in prison and when they are out again, she fears.

She believes that Norway is in breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which clearly states that children should not go to prison with adults. If children are going to prison, there must be institutions where care and environmental work are central.

– The temporary places at Eidsberg will not last.

– Excessive criticism

NRK has not succeeded in getting an answer from Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp). Instead, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice responds on her behalf.

– The criticism that we are taking too long to open these two nurseries seems to me to be very exaggerated. Anyone who has applied for positions in the state and municipality knows that there are processes that take time, says John Erik Vika (Sp).

He says the children’s places will be opened soon, but has no concrete date for when.

– Since 2021, you have promised that children will not go to adult prison. Why is this taking so long?

– Now it is the case that the Hurdalsplattformen is not intended to realize all possibilities within the first year, it is a four-year plan. And I think we are delivering when you look at the four-year plan as a whole. It is within what I believe to be a reasonable time.

– But in the meantime, children are put in adult prison for detention. Is it justifiable?

– I will not comment on that.

The article is in Norwegian

Tags: government promised create childrens places prisons years opened Greater Oslo