Correctional Services - StatRes (discontinued), 2012

The Norwegian Correctional Services’ expenses for own production, i.e. the sum of wage costs and the purchase of goods and services was NOK 4 044 million in 2012. This is 2.9 per cent more than in 2011. The entire growth is due to an increase of NOK 128 million in wage costs.

In 2012, the wage costs were NOK 2 695 million, or 5 per cent more than in 2011. The total cost of purchases of goods and services was NOK 1 349 million in 2012, just over 1 per cent less than in 2011. Wage costs accounted for 66.6 per cent of The Norwegian Correctional Services` own production, which is a somewhat higher share than in the previous year.

Stable man-years in the units and positions of the Norwegian Correctional Services

There were 4 373 contracted man-years excluding long-term leave in 2012. Of these, 3 413 man-years relate to prisons and 354 relate to the probation offices, which is 78 and 8 per cent respectively of all man-years in the Norwegian Correctional Services. The remaining 606 man-years related to other units, including 336 trainee man-years in the Norwegian Correctional Services’ education centre. This is almost the same number and share as for the two preceding years.

Overall, there were 2 761 man-years for security personnel and trainees in 2012; 49 more man-years or an almost 2 per cent increase from 2011. Compared to the previous year, there were however 44 fewer man-years in other positions than security personnel and trainees. These changes in positions is mainly due to a redistribution in the prisons, where there were 36 more man-years for security personnel and 47 fewer man-years in other positions. Man-years related to security personnel and trainees made up 63 per cent of all man-years in the Norwegian Correctional Service in 2012.

Less activity and somewhat lower utilisation rate in prisons

According to figures from the Correctional Services, there were 1 367 000 prison stays in 2012 (excluding electronic monitoring). Altogether, this is 12 800 fewer than in 2011, with a reduction of 7 900 prison stays in prisons, and 4 900 prison stays outside prison.

The 963 400 unconditional prison stays in 2012 is almost 20 700 fewer than in 2011. In addition, there were more than 348 000 days in custody, 30 500 days in preventive detention and 28 000 days serving a sentence for non-payment of a fine. These numbers are higher compared to the previous year.

The fall in the total number of prison stays inside prison contributed to a reduction in the utilisation rate in prisons, from 95 per cent in 2011 to 94.5 per cent in 2012.

More probation service cases on electronic monitoring

A total of 5 356 punitive sentences implemented by the probation offices were implemented by the probation offices in 2012. Of these, 1 490 were cases with  electronic monitoring , which was 426 more than in 2011. The probation offices implemented fewer of most of the types of punitive sentences compared to the previous year. For instance, 108 fewer community sentences were implemented and 51 fewer cases on the anti-drink driving programme. The increasing number of implemented cases of electronic monitoring caused the total number of implemented probation service cases to increase by 178 from 2011 to 2012.

Fewer, but still most community sentences

During the years 2009-2012, continuously fewer community sentences have been implemented. Despite this decrease, community sentences still make up the largest group of cases for the probation offices. For instance, the 2 437 community sentences implemented made up 46 per cent of the implemented probation service cases in 2012.

Out of all completed/discontinued probation service cases in 2012, cases of electronic monitoring made up 26 per cent, while the corresponding share was 20 per cent in 2011. The increasing amount of cases of electronic monitoring in recent years has led to this type of punitive sentence representing an increasing share of the active cases for the probation offices. This type of cases is, however, relatively short term, and in 2012, made up only 5 per cent of all active probation service cases. The community sentences made up 56 per cent of all punitive sentences that were active on an average day in 2012.

Higher completion rate, but a higher share with long implementation period

The completion rate and the share of sentences that are implemented within 60 days of passing sentence are two of the key performance indicators for the activity in the probation offices. Compared to the two previous years, a somewhat higher share of these types of sentences had an implementation period of more than 60 days. The completion rate for these types of probation service cases is higher in 2012 than in the previous year. This was especially the case for the anti-drink driving programme, where 87 per cent of all completed/discontinued cases were completed in 2012, while the corresponding share was 78 per cent in 2011.