Cows help rehabilitate prisoners in Sweden
MARIESTAD, Sweden — It’s barely 6 am and Alfred is already busy milking cows. But when his chores on the farm are done, he won’t be going home — he’ll be returning to his prison cell.
In Sweden, which prioritizes rehabilitation over long prison sentences, Alfred is one of 60 inmates preparing to reintegrate into society at a minimum security “open prison” functioning as a farm in the town of Mariestad, 300 kilometers southwest of Stockholm.
Imprisoned since April for illegally possessing a gun, Alfred, a grandfather in his 50s who is due to be released in November, can’t hide the joy he gets from spending time with the animals.
“I like them, ... they calm me down,” he says.
In this agricultural prison called Rodjan — the biggest of the Swedish penitentiary system’s three farms — his routines are the same every day.
He meets up with his work assignment partner Sofian (both names have been changed to protect their identities) in the morning for two and a half hours of work and then once again in the evening.
Other inmates work on the farm watering the plants, repainting the gates and mowing the lawn. A dozen of them are in charge of the livestock.
In the country, just under a third of prisoners reoffend after leaving jail or serving their term, which is half of that in France.
As in all penitentiaries across Sweden, inmates have their own cells. At Rodjan, they’re unlocked. There are no security cameras, no gates, no barbed wire and inmates are allowed to move about freely.
Alfred jokes that the cows are more locked up than the prisoners.
The inmates work 35 hours per week with two days off and are paid $1.15 an hour.
The bond with the animals is strong. On his days off, Alfred admits that he regularly steps into the barn “to see if everything is fine”.
Other inmates have been known to call to check on the welfare of cows that are due to give birth.