Norwegian prisoners are among Europe’s most expensive

Ullersmo PrisonUllersmo Prison. Photo: Norway Today Media

Norway pays the second most per capita in Europe a year on prisoners showed a new overview from the Council of Europe. On average, each prisoner cost almost NOK 3,200 per day in 2017.

Only Sweden has higher prison expenses than Norway. There, prisoners cost an average of NOK 4,270 per day, while the Danes pay about NOK 2,270 per prisoner per day.

Norway has reduced expenses by 23.5% from 2016 to 2018 according to the report. This is partly due to the fact that the prison rate, that is, the number of inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, had fallen by 11.6% to 65.4.

Norway also has more inmates measured against the population than all of our Nordic neighbours (as well as the Netherlands and Slovenia) in Europe, seen below a fall rate of 6.6% in the period the report showed.

Russia has the absolute highest prison rate, with 418 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants, almost twice as many as the next country on list, Slovenia.

Norway is also among the European countries that have the most foreign inmates. Almost one in three, 32.1%, have a non-Norwegian background.

Norway is also far above the European average in terms of how many are incarcerated for drug crime. While the average in Europe is almost 17%, one in four inmates in Norway are convicted for drugs.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today