Imprisonments, 2009

More than 1.2 million days in prisons

On an average day in 2009, 2 423 persons were serving a prison sentence, 71 were in preventive detention, 106 were serving sentences for non-payment of a fine, and 803 persons were in custody. Compared to the previous year, there was an average of 2 per cent less serving a prison sentence. The average number of prisoners per day serving a sentence for non-payment of a fine also decreased, by five per cent, but compared with 2007 there is still a high level.

The average number of prisoners in custody increased by 10 per cent compared with the year before, and the more than 293 000 days spent in custody in penal institutions during the year is 21 per cent more than in 2007. Almost 24 per cent of the days spent in penal institutions in 2009 were related to custody. In the historical statistics dating back to 1960, there is no year with more completed time in custody than in 2009.

Decrease in new prison sentences

In 2009, about 11 900 new imprisonments were registered in Norwegian prisons; a decrease of 2 per cent from the previous year. A total of 7 560 of these, which is 64 per cent, were starting their prison sentence, which is a 7 per cent decrease from the year before. In addition, more than 1 270 transfers were made from custody to serving prison sentences in 2009, and compared with the previous year, 6 per cent fewer prison sentences began overall. Compared with 2007, there were 12 per cent fewer prison sentences overall.

More new imprisonments for custody

There was almost a 15 per cent increase in new imprisonments for custody in 2009, compared with the relatively low number the year before. For nearly half of the 3 124 new imprisonments for custody, the principle offence was either larceny (27 per cent) or a narcotics crime against the Penal Code (22 per cent). The number of new imprisonments for custody for these two offences increased by 21 and 29 per cent respectively, from the year before.

Narcotics - main reasons for serving sentence and custody

The largest portion of the prison population at the beginning of the year had a narcotics offence (29 per cent) as a principle offence, followed by other offences for profit (21 per cent) and violent offences (21 per cent). Thirty-one per cent of those in custody at the beginning of the year had a narcotics offence as their principal offence, and 28 per cent had larceny or other offence for profit. For prisoners in preventive detention at the beginning of the year; 74 persons, most had offences of violence (54 per cent) or sexual offences (34 per cent) as a principle offence. The prison population serving sentences for crimes made up 90 per cent of the total prison population at the beginning of the year.

Many new imprisonments due to profit or traffic offence

Offences of those who come into prisons in a single year (new imprisonments) are relatively different to those we see among persons who are in prison at any given time. This is partly because a relatively larger share of the new imprisonments has short sentences. As shown in the diagram, traffic offences constitute a greater share and narcotics offences a lower share, of the new imprisonments due to the prisoners in the beginning of the year.

Despite the reservation needed due to the increased number of serving sentences for non-payment of a fine (where no information is available about the offence), it seems that offences of violence and traffic had the largest decrease from 2008 to 2009 - both by over 8 per cent. Offences for profit and narcotics both increased, with 3 and 4 per cent respectively.

Aged 30 and older

In 2009, 90 per cent of the new prisoners were men. Of the prisoners with known age, more than 53 per cent of new prisoners in 2009 were aged 30 or older. At the beginning of the year, almost 94 per cent of the prisoners were men, and almost 65 per cent were aged 30 or older.

Tables

Published tables