CCPOA VP witnesses firsthand the benefits of Norway model
In September, about a dozen members of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association visited prisons in Norway to observe the Norway model, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The tour included California corrections officer Steve “Bull” Durham. He focused not on the demeanor of the prisoners or the pristine grounds, but on the level of comfort and contentment among the Norway’s correctional staff. It had impressed him, said the article.
Durham, a CCPOA vice president, stated, “Corrections officers in California are literally sick and tired from being cogs in a machine that doesn’t work — for our society, for incarcerated persons, or for guards who want a career that doesn’t kill them.”
Durham said the attitudes and mindset of the Norwegian officers appeared not only healthier, but in terms of interaction between residents and officers, far more casual.
“It’s radical,” said Durham, about turning guards into at least part-time social workers.
A corrections officer for 25 years, Durham spent most of his career in the desolate enclaves of Tehachapi State Prison. He and other CCPOA representatives discovered benefits of the Norway Model that had remained unclear to the union before Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the implementation of his vision of rehabilitation, known as the California Model.
The California model might not only improve the overall welfare of correctional officers but also has the potential of saving jobs slated for elimination by looming prison closures.
The Norway model requires prisons to develop a “more humane and more normalized” culture.
“We are tired of seeing our partners in a casket. The stuff we see is not good” Durham said. “It comes down to the mental health and well-being of our staff. We have to try to change.”
The article noted that the occupation’s psychological stress leads to a life expectancy at least 15 years below the national average, with heart attacks and a suicide rate of 39%, far higher than the rest of the working population, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.
After Norway’s adoption of its current model, rates of re-offending had fallen from 70% to 20%, the lowest recidivism rate in the world, according to the LA Times.
The Times reported that 45% of California’s released incarcerated residents commit new crimes within three years and about 20% return to prison.
The CCPOA has supported Gov. Newsom California Model. The union support might astonish voters, for public opinion might swing to increased incarceration, said the article.
Currently, the American prison philosophy of static security, which includes lockdowns, cell extractions, mace and rubber bullets, can change to Norway’s dynamic security, which provides an environment of respect and dignity for all individuals, said the article.
California leaves rehabilitation up to the incarcerated individuals. Conversely, Norwegian officers rely on interpersonal relationships between officers and residents to maintain institutional control.
Norway believes a safer, more productive environment allows correctional officers to support rehabilitation while increasing the quality of their lives, and improving their longevity as well.
In Norway, correctional officers have responsibility for facilitating every program, which creates mutual respect and trust with the incarcerated population.
The vice president of the CCPOA notes that the current incarceration system does not give prison residents self-sufficiency as they learn rehabilitative techniques.
The U.S. prisons do not teach life lessons whereas Norwegian prisons give incarcerated persons the ability to function in life, said Durham.
He added that U.S. officers have to gain the trust of the incarcerated population to act as their mentors.
Also Durham admitted that the majority of California officers doubt that the California model would work and that many of them might oppose the concept.
San Quentin correctional officer T. Thomas, who had joined the tour of the Norway prison, told the Times that implementing the California Model “seems realistic.”
“We do a lot of this already. We just didn’t have the words to put to it,” said Thomas.
Regardless of budget deficits and impending prison closures, the California Model would require additional correctional officers, said the article.
Officer Thomas observed the Norwegian guards as having accountability for a few dozen incarcerated persons, while she has had charge of up to 200. In most prisons, incarcerated persons frequently outnumber guards. To maintain safety, guard depended on relationships they have developed with prison residents.
Newsom has mandated rehabilitation that would establish opportunities for incarcerated persons to increase public safety in the communities to which they return.
The California Model would bring to the state a successful implementation with the help of the CDCR’s 21,000 officers.
