Forget digging trenches or making crafts during leisure time; the inmates at an eco-prison in Norway are instead more likely to be found growing the produce they will eat, collecting eggs or tending to a wood fire that is used as a heat source. The green life is actually being used to rehabilitate inmates in the country before they are released from prison. The Norwegians in charge are so confident that this theory works in fact, they allow one prisoner who is in for murder (and also dismembered a dead body) use a chainsaw.

The real question is, does this system actually work? That's still up for debate, but watch the video clip above and read the EcoInsomniac's thoughts on the matter. 

I hope you take the time to watch the video above it is a great look into a successful program going on in Norway to reconnect inmates with life and respect. The prison governor is a very intelligent man and realized if you give the prisoners a good way to earn respect and treat them like people they tend it is much easier for them to integrate back into society. He has successfully rehabilitated inmates which most of the American worlds prisons fail to do everyday by giving his prisoners a way to work and connect with animals as well as create their own food these prisoners are learning to respect life, gain trust and a sense of living.

Everybody needs a sense of pride and programs like this give these men the sense that it can be earned by honest means. We truly need more programs like this in the world because it is abundantly clear that keeping men and women in over crowded cages is not a good way to make an honest person out of them.

Of course to me the fact that they are going about this in an eco-friendly way gives me hope that these men are being taught to respect their surrounding as well as the people around them. The solar power generation is a great step for prisons and I think more and more tax payer supported facilities should be implementing solar or wind power if the location allows for it. The money savings would be huge and the money saved could be directed at running these types of programs.

What do you think of Norway's initiative? Is going green the key to successful long-term rehabilitation or simply a waste of time, money, resources and efforts? Think about it while you visit the EcoInsomniac's blog to read more though-provoking commentary such as this.

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