FLEXIBLE WORKING, AGILE PRISONS?

Can workplace design stop crime? In Norwegian prisons, the agile model is being used as a way to rehabilitate inmates and lower

rates of recidivism – and it seems to be working.

Norway’s criminals are famously treated humanely. Even violent offenders serve time in liberal penitentiaries like Bastøy Prison, where inmates and guards work together tending to animals and farming, taking classes and playing tennis. And, in Norway, this experimental approach to correctional services tends to be the rule rather than the exception. The hope is that encouraging principles like respect, collaboration and responsibility – similar to the values promoted in today’s workplaces – will promote rehabilitation and lower rates of repeat offenders.

Increasingly, design practice, with its focus on problem-solving and reflective thinking, is included in this approach. In a fitting twist of fate, ceramics from one of these ‘prison design workshops’ were bought by Johan Laursen, the head chef at Fru K, for use when serving up the restaurant’s fitve – or seven – course tasting menus.

This kind of collaboration between the design industry and the country’s correctional services can be traced back to a 2009 partnership between Vik Prison and the Bergen Academy of

Art and Design. In 2013, Norwegian designers and co-founders of studio Morten&Jonas, Morten Skjaerpe Knarrum and Jonas Norheim, took the partnership even further. Based on an idea from Skjaerpe Knarrum’s master’s thesis, the duo began working with the Correctional Service, Western Norway to open a design studio based out of Bjørgvin Prison that collaborated with inmates, and also ran workshops at prisons in Bergen and Vik.

Called Studio Bjørgvin, it was the fitrst program of its kind in Norway, possibly the world. The idea was to teach useful skills to inmates with a lack of formal training and education, and in the process help them change the way they think. “Inmates are often impulsive,” says Skjaerpe Knarrum. “Design thinking helps them consider the decisions they make.” The fitrst project, completed at Bjørgvin Prison in 2013, was a playful table lamp called ‘Bake Me A Cake’ for Norwegian brand Northern Lighting, with brochure photography and text also done by inmates. At Vik prison, they worked with inmates on a timber bench that was exhibited at 100 per cent Norway for London Design Festival 2014. They also designed and built a café at Bergen prison that is used for barista training of inmates. The inmates even designed a coffee machine that was put into production in the prison in early 2015.

One of the biggest benefitts of introducing design to the prison system is the possibility to reduce recidivism. Research indicates that around 80 per cent of all crime has a lead time of less than 15 minutes, suggesting that those commiting crimes may lack impulse control and tend not to consider consequences. Leif Waage, a Norwegian psychologist and assistant regional manager at Western Region, believes that design could be the answer, encouraging inmates to plan ahead, consider consequences, and seek solutions to specifitc problems. “The design process strikes a balance between theoretical and practical work,” says Waage. “It can also help to provide new skills and greater levels of empowerment.”

There are no studies yet to indicate how the integration of design practice has specifitcally affected recidivism rates in Norway, however the country has one of the lowest in the world at just 20 per cent. Compare that to the U.S., where 76.6 per cent of prisoners are rearrested within fitve years. So, it’s safe to say that Norway’s correctional services are doing something right – and introducing design into the system, alongside other aspects of ‘restorative justice’, has been well-received by inmates, the prison staff, and even the design industry at-large.

“The design workshops are popular, as many inmates enjoy doing more creative work in prison,” says Skjaerpe Knarrum. “It can be challenging to work in this way, but it’s also very rewarding. A big part of our work in the prison system is to see, listen and understand – and then, of course, to challenge.”