the United States has more than 2.2 million adults locked up in its prisons and jails that's only slightly smaller than the population of Houston America's fourth largest city many of the inmates are repeat offenders which raises the age-old question of what we want out of incarceration punishment or rehabilitation so prisoners do not return one Scandinavian country is using a unique approach to achieve the latter as part of our week-long series here at NBC News looking at criminal justice reform kelly cobiella travels to norway for our sunday spotlight in this vast forest of pine a blueberry
is what some call the world's most humane prison hauled in prison where new inmates are greeted the way I was with a handshake drug smugglers murderers rapists all doing time in a maximum-security prison that feels more like a college campus it's his home Carsten was convicted of killing a man in Brazil this is his cellblock with a full kitchen big-screen TV laundry room you have a key to your own self yeah he and the rest of the prisoners are locked in overnight the rest of the time they choose when to lock the door to their
cozy single bed cells with a TV and a private bathroom that used to be prison in Brazil and there was a cell just a little bit bigger than this and they were used to be 15 people in the same room the point here to turn criminals into good neighbors always have coffee on the go thank you rehabilitation says the prison governor starts on day one we take the freedom from them but when they are N we try to help them to get the better citizens inmates have a normal work week giving them routine and responsibilities
training to be car mechanics and graphic designers in a state-of-the-art studio from the city hall learning skills like restaurant prep where they're trusted to handle knives can help them get jobs on the outside they have weekends off and a house available for overnight visits with their families richard is studying music he's doing time for murder and served his first four years in a Swedish prison I was worried hateful myself when I came here you know because I come from very very hard prison systems very really hate the guards the guards hated us do I feel
like a different person now yeah here guards and tutors work side-by-side with inmates playing chess or simply going for a walk it's all about building relationships and Trust even with the prison boss Neelix are happy it's an inlaid with painted bits there are cameras and locks but no weapons and nearly half of the guards are women what do you feel safe yes I do why well I mean we we get to know all the prisoners pretty well we interact but we're with them all the time Norway's model isn't cheap ninety-three thousand dollars per inmate per
year three times more than in the US but only 20 percent of inmates reoffending in the u.s. it's 60 percent there's no death penalty and life sentences were banned in 1981 even mass murderer Andres previck who killed 77 people in the 2011 attack was given a maximum sentence of 21 years though that is extendable conservative critics say Norway has gone too far what about the victims who actually has this feel really injustice that the people who commit this crime can actually live in this luxury if someone were to say to you I looks like a
pretty luxurious lifestyle most of us aren't going to see the outside for a long time but these men admit they've been held here before I think more like a criminal but now I start to think more like normal guy you know if at return inmates like an animal it'd be an animal if you treat an inmate with respect you respect you back he is a human being yeah it's written like human beings lessons many here believe could extend beyond these prison walls for Sunday today kelly cobiella hauled in prison norway kelly thank you very much
you can see more in-depth reporting in our justice for all series across NBC platforms including a special town hall inside sing-sing prison moderated by Lester Holt tonight on MSNBC at ten o'clock Eastern you
