Nestled into the stunning Arctic landscape with panoramic views of sparkling fjords and snowy mountains, Ny Anstalt could easily be mistaken for a luxury ski lodge. But this stylish complex in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, is actually a prison.
As any onlooker can deduce, when it opens in 2019 it will not be a normal penitentiary. It will be a "humane prison" -- a correctional facility that emphasizes rehabilitating criminals through positive design, rather than punishment.
Exponents of the "humane prison" philosophy believe that if prisons mimic the conditions of normal life, as far as is possible, offenders have a greater chance of successful reintegration into society, and less chance of re-offending.
Ny Anstalt, however, is more than an architectural accomplishment for the country. It hopes to end a human rights issue that has haunted the island nation for decades.
Greenland runs a uniquely "open" prison system, with many inmates allowed to leave the premises to work, study, or even go hunting, before returning at night. As a consequence, none of the existing penitentiaries can accommodate high-security inmates, and this has long presented Greenland with a problem.
Many Nordic countries have famously low crime rates: in Iceland, for example, there were only three homicides in 2015, according to European Union statistics. But in Greenland, the proportion of citizens sent to prison is about three times higher than in the rest of the Nordic region, according to the Danish Prison and Probation Service.
Greenland's crime problem can be traced back to reforms instigated after the second world war. About 88% of the country's population are indigenous Inuit people -- the remaining 12% are mostly of Danish descent.
Without a suitable facility, since the 1960s, Greenland has sent its most dangerous -- and mentally ill -- inmates to Herstedvester, outside the Danish capital Copenhagen, says Erik Bang, head of the construction unit at the Danish Prison and Probation Service. This has created issues as many speak Greenlandic (an Inuit language) rather than Danish so can't communicate with the guards, and it's impossible for most to receive visits from their families.
When Ny Anstalt opens, Nuuk's current prison, which was built in the 1960s, will close and its inmates will be transferred to the new facility. "The practice of sending Greenlandic prisoners to Denmark will end," says Nathanielsen, adding that the 30 or so prisoners currently incarcerated in exile will be offered the chance to return to their home country. She says the new prison is long overdue. "Exiling people to serve their sentence in another country, with another language and culture, is very harsh."
Thomas Ruus Christensen, Ny Anstalt's lead design architect, says that the prison -- which has won a World Architecture News Award -- is "designed to operate like a small village with residential blocks, workplaces, education and sports facilities, a library, a health center and a church."
The 86,000 square foot (8,000 square meter) facility will have 76 cells, 40 of which will be "closed" for maximum security prisoners, while 36 will be "open" for those allowed greater degrees of freedom. Prisoners who have earned the privilege will be allowed to travel into Nuuk to work and earn a wage, before returning to the prison at night.
The private cells are only 130 square feet (12 square meters) but are positioned to look across to Sermitsiaq, a towering mountain on an offshore island, and their windows don't have bars. Christensen says this wild outlook was a design priority. "You can't escape the prison because it's surrounded by a big wall, but you can look at the view and escape in your mind -- and that's important," says Christensen.
Although the prison is a modern building, Ny Anstalt will be decorated with traditional Greenland flourishes. "There's a very distinctive artistic language in Greenland," says Christensen. "We're bringing in local artists to decorate communal areas with landscape paintings and traditional designs, and carve etchings of animals into the perimeter wall."
Design has even been used to manage security at the facility. "The prison is designed over three levels which allows the guards to manage the flow of people between different areas, and control which prisoners encounter each other," explains Mogenson. This reduces the possibility of violence.
"The guards don't need to carry weapons, and can develop better relationships with the prisoners, which is essential to the concept of rehabilitation," she adds.
According to Yvonne Jewkes, a professor of criminology at the UK's University of Kent, a humanely designed prison can help to foster a sense of purpose, citizenship and hope for the future, which is important because "at some point, the vast majority of prisoners are going to be released."
Source: CNN
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