The 13 Best Prisons in the World
Published June 3, 2022
When you think about prison, thoughts of steel bars, dark corridors, bad food, and total dismay fill your mind. However, you’ll be surprised to learn that not all prisons resemble this way. There are, in fact, institutions around the globe that, despite being genuine, are the complete opposite of what you imagined.
Here are 13 of the best prisons in the world, which have changed our view of correctional facilities.
1. HMP Addiewell, Scotland
Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) Addiewell in southern Scotland, a designated learning prison, allots each resident 40 hours per week of skill development. The 700 prisoners at Addiewell are definitely in good hands since the facility focuses on facilitating a meaningful and purposeful transition back to a normal life.
2. Justice Center Leoben, Austria
The Justice Center prison, a pleasant European dwelling for non-violent offenders, provides each inmate with a single cell, private bathroom, kitchenette, and television. That, plus their fully outdoor recreation area-equipped gym, and basketball court, would make for a surprisingly comfortable sentence.
3. Champ-Dollon Prison, Switzerland
A newly refurbished dwelling in Champ-Dollon, which was once known for its overcrowding, now features triple occupancy cells with attached bathrooms. Inmates who have access to these kinds of amenities are less likely to see themselves as criminals and more likely to see themselves as college roommates working together for a common goal like rehabilitation.
4. Sollentuna Prison, Sweden
This correctional facility provides individual cells with comfortable mattresses and adjacent bathrooms for its inmates. In addition, the inmates have access to a state-of-the-art gym, an open kitchen, and a large recreation room with a television and a couch.
5. Cebu Prison, Philippines
Cebu Prison may not meet the best jail compared to the previously mentioned prisons, but it has championed inmate recreation and creativity. This correctional facility allows its inmates to sing and dance to a variety of musical songs. In addition to performing for public audiences, the inmates also sign autographs.
6. Pondok Bambu Prison, Indonesia
Pondok Bambu is a women’s facility providing everything from air conditioning systems, refrigerators, karaoke systems, and nail salons. However, the facility’s luxurious living comes at a price: corruption. In this prison filled with sculptures and gardens, recreational programs and body treatments would be unquestionably relaxing.
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7. Suomenlinna Prison, Finland
Suomenlinna is one of the few “open jails” across the world, with no bars or locked doors. Instead, there are shared kitchens, showers, toilets, as well as saunas in the single-room, single-story dwelling. Large flat-screen televisions occupy the lounge, and a barbeque area is situated near a pond. In addition, inmates are allowed to work on building projects all across the island.
8. Bastoy Prison, Norway
Over 100 inmates are housed in Oslofjord’s Bastoy Island Prison, where they can partake in recreational activities like horseback riding, tennis, fishing, and sunbathing. With cottages to live in and farms to work on, the inmates at this minimum security facility likely forget they are imprisoned.
9. Otago Corrections Facility, New Zealand
While Otago’s security measures are strict, the facility offers its inmates comfortable dwellings and places importance on skill development as a means of self-transformation. In addition, Otago tries to effectively rehabilitate inmates by providing courses in dairy farming, light engineering, and cooking, among others.
10. Aranjuez Prison, Spain
This innovative institution addresses how correctional facilities tear families apart by allowing infants to spend their early years with their parents. In addition, this facility enables inmates to experience fatherhood despite their circumstances and be a parent to children who are too young to realize the realities of being imprisoned. Aranjuez has a children’s play room, cribs, and Disney figures on the walls.
11. JVA Fuhlsbüttel Prison, Germany
This Hamburg prison is home to a large number of long-serving inmates with spacious cells with beds, a couch, a separate shower and toilet, and plenty of natural light. In addition to its other facilities, JVA Fuhlsbüttel provides its inmates with laundry machines, a recreation room, as well as a conference room.
12. Halden Prison, Norway
Halden is deemed the world’s most humane prison for a reason: it is surrounded by rich greenery and natural light. In addition, the facility offers comfortable quarters, and considerable privacy is provided to all inmates. This prison is every long-serving inmate’s dream. It provides skill-building classes, a recreation area equipped with television programs, movies, and video games, a fully-equipped gym, and a fully-operational recording studio. This Nordic Prison may actually be the best prison in the world!
13. San Pedro Prison, Bolivia
San Pedro is on this list due to its one-of-a-kind prison community design, despite not being among the most luxurious prisons. With self-appointed leaders and entire neighborhoods filled with homes and families, as well as businesses and cafes, this place may be the unusually nicest prison in the world.
A More Holistic Approach
These 13 best prisons in the world demonstrate a holistic approach to incarceration that treats inmates as human beings. Moreover, they are examples of how correctional facilities with guarded security offer inmates second chances.
(Related: Top 5 Best and Worst Prisons in the US)
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About The Author
Krizzia Paolyn is an SEO Specialist with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. It has always been her passion to share her voice, and at the same time, to encourage other people to speak up.
