Correctional Services - StatRes (discontinued), 2010

There were 23 per cent more man-years in the Norwegian Correctional Services in 2010 than in 2005. In the past year, the highest increase in man-years was seen in penal institutions, where the total of 3 418 man-years is 267 more than in 2009. Halden prison, where prisoners began serving sentences from 2010, therefore accounted for 184 more man-years in 2010 than in 2009 (see textboxes).

Security personnel and trainees made up a total of 64 per cent of all man-years in the Norwegian Correctional Services in 2010. Although the number of trainees has fluctuated considerably in recent years, the total share of man-years in these positions has remained stable from 2005 to 2010. With regard to the part of the Norwegian Correctional Services that is made up of the penal institutions, security personnel have constituted around 70 per cent of the man-years in recent years.

New prison - higher costs

The Norwegian Correctional Services’ expenses for own production, i.e. the sum of wage costs and the purchase of goods and services, was NOK 3.8 billion in 2010. This is 8 per cent more than in 2009. The wage costs increased by NOK 135 million, or 6 per cent, in relation to the year before. The purchase of goods and services increased by NOK 144 million, or 12 per cent, from 2009 to 2010. Large parts of these increased costs relate to higher expenses for Halden prison, and the cost increase in the remainder of the Norwegian Correctional Services was only around NOK 70 million.

In relation to the rest of the Norwegian Correctional Services, expenses relating to the purchase of goods and services were relatively high in Halden prison in 2010. This was partly responsible for the wage costs’ share of expenses for own production, in the Norwegian Correctional Services as a whole, falling from 65.1 per cent in 2009 to 63.8 per cent in 2010. Further details of the shares of production costs in other parts of the state-run activities are available at Central government - StatRes ).

More remanded in custody

According to figures from the Prison and Probation Central Administration, there were more than 1 343 000 prison stays. This is around 6 per cent more than in the two preceding years, and 16 per cent more than in 2005. In prisons, there were 83 000 more prison stays in total than the year before. The number of unconditional prison sentences was 22 000 more than the year before, while the number of days in custody was almost 69 000 more. In recent years, the use of custody has increased a lot more than other types of imprisonments; from 17 per cent of all prison stays in 2006 the share has increased to as much as 27 per cent in 2010.

The number of new imprisonments continues to fall. The almost 11 700 new imprisonments in 2010 is 3 per cent fewer than the year before and almost 9 per cent fewer than in 2007. As in 2009, 2010 saw an increase in new imprisonments to custody, and a reduction of new imprisonments for all other types of imprisonments.

Higher activity and higher utilisation rate in prisons

Prisons increased their capacity in 2010, particularly due to the expansion after the opening of Halden prison. The utilisation rate increased to 95.5 per cent in 2010, which is considerably higher than in the two preceding years. The increased capacity and utilisation rate were used to increase the number of prison stays and new imprisonments in custody, as well as a more moderate increase in the number of prison stays on unconditional sentences. Overall, this means that the activity in prisons is substantially higher in 2010 than the preceding years.

More prison sentences, but fewer community sentences, to the probation offices

In 2010, probation offices implemented 1 000 cases of electronic monitoring, i.e. “home detention” with an ankle tag as a result of an unconditional sentence. This is 28 per cent more than in 2009 - and 900 more than in 2008, which was when electronic monitoring was introduced. Electronic monitoring made up almost 20 per cent of the punitive sentences implemented by the probation offices in 2010.

Although the number of sentences implemented for most other sanctions remained unchanged from 2009, the probation offices’ total number of implemented and discontinued/completed punitive sentences fell in 2010. This is related to a fall in community sentences, where the probation offices had 9 per cent fewer sentences implemented than in 2009. However, the probation offices completed 1 866 pre-trial reports in 2010, which is almost 6 per cent more than in 2009 and 26 per cent more than in 2007.

Completion rate and implementation period for probation offices

In 2010, 5 148 probation service tasks were regarded as completed or discontinued, i.e. completed after the end of the period or discontinued before the end of the period due to a breach in the conditions. The completion rate for community sentences was 88 per cent, which is somewhat higher than previous years. The corresponding share for drink/drug driving programmes was 86 per cent, which is somewhat lower than in 2009.

In 2010, 73 per cent of all probation service tasks commenced within 60 days of issue. Overall, the implementation period for community sentences and drink/drug driving programmes is about the same as the year before, but a smaller share of these commenced within 30 days in 2010. The implementation period for electronic monitoring improved in 2010, but compared to other sanctions is still relatively long: for 64 per cent of these tasks in 2010 the implementation period was more than 60 days.