2Project Title: Collaboration between Amend and Norway (KDI with cooperating units)
Funding: The project is financed by public and private donors in the USA.
Country Representatives for KDI: Tom Eberhardt – Tom.eberhardt@kriminalomsorg.no
Collaboration History: The collaboration between KDI and Amend (University of California, San Francisco) was formalized in a 5-year agreement in the fall of 2019. Prior to this, American delegations from various states visited Norway through this program at least once a year since the fall of 2015.
About Amend: Amend is a project organization at the Criminal Justice and Health Program at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), led by Professor Brie Williams. Amend (formerly JUSTInnovate) previously collaborated with The Prison Law Office under Director Don Specter on prison reform in the USA, including visits to Norway.
Norwegian Partners:
- KRUS
- Halden Prison
- Romerike Prison
- Oslo Prison
- Ringerike Prison
- Bastøy Prison
- Ila Prison
- Bredtveit Prison
- Oslo Transitional Housing
- Directorate of Norwegian Correctional Service
American Partners: Currently working with the states of California, Oregon, Washington, and North Dakota (as of May 2022). Previously involved states include Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Rhode Island, and New York.
Funding: The project is fully funded through public and private funds in the USA. Amend now has over ten employees in the USA and has engaged two Norwegian employees based in KDI. Norwegian cooperating prisons are reimbursed for all expenses related to visits and training activities.
Objectives: Amend’s main goal is prison reform and changing the culture in American prisons to reduce harmful health effects on both staff and inmates. A distinctive feature of Amend’s work is its focus on the health of employees, particularly prison officers. American prison officers are significantly overrepresented in various negative health statistics compared to other similar professions. By focusing on staff health, the aim is that inmates will also experience positive changes.
Target Group: The project targets prison staff, politicians, bureaucrats, private investors, and administrative staff within and outside the justice sector.
Content: The project aims to change the culture in specifically selected prisons in partner states by focusing on values, principles, and core areas from Norwegian correctional services. Visits to Norway challenge participants to develop plans for implementing new ideas upon their return to their prisons in the USA. Some visits include “job shadowing,” where one or more guests follow a Norwegian officer during their shifts in prison, dressed in American prison uniforms. Through dialogue-based training and education (theoretical and practical) on selected topics, participants gain new knowledge and skills while being challenged to reflect on their own practices.
Results: So far, results show a strong willingness and ability to change in the cooperating states, with several states showcasing very positive local examples, including powerful stories from inmates affected by the cultural change among prison staff. An annual activity plan is developed based on experiences and joint evaluations.
Additional Activities: In addition to delegations from the USA to Norway, the project conducted training programs for American staff from various prisons by Norwegian prison staff in the USA in 2019 and 2020. Norway has also been involved in planning changes and constructing new prisons in the USA and has been represented at several prison reform conferences in the USA.