The Little Scandinavia program at the SCI Chester Correctional Facility in Chester has been so successful, one state representative would like to expand it to other parts of Pennsylvania, writes Christina Lengyel for The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Little Scandinavia adopts a prison model used in Sweden and Norway that reduces the difference between prison life and life in the outside world.
The pilot program was adopted for one of the units at SCI Chester where up to 64 men are incarcerated.
Under the program, the men live in single cells with desks and even refrigerators.
The unit utilizes plants and green space. Prison staff are encouraged to talk, work out and even share meals with inmates.
Department of Corrections Secretary Laurel Harry said that since the pilot program began, only a single fight has been reported among the inmates there.
“Incarcerated individuals on that unit do feel safer because there is less violence, there’s more of a camaraderie amongst the inmate population, so I think those are some of the key takeaways for the inmate population,” Harry said.
State Rep. Ben Waxman, D-Philadelphia is a major advocate of the Little Scandinavia model and would like to see it spread to other facilities.
Find out more about the prison program in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
