Collaborative Research: Evaluating the Implementation of the Nordic Model of Incarceration in the United States

University Of Missouri-Kansas City, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

The harshly punitive conditions in many prisons worldwide are the target of growing criticism. In the ensuing debate over correctional reform, the “Nordic Model” of incarceration is routinely positioned as a less punitive, more humane alternative. With human dignity as a guiding value, Nordic Model prisons are designed less to punish incarcerated people than to facilitate their reintegration into society after release. The stark contrast between the Nordic model and more punitive approaches explains the former’s appeal in the correctional reform debate yet also prompts caution about the challenges to its adoption in contexts outside the Nordic sphere. The application of the Nordic Model in U.S. correctional settings, for instance, may require creative methods of translating seemingly incompatible values, policies, and practices. This research sheds light on how and to what degree the Nordic Model contributes to correctional reform in new contexts, particularly those grounded in a punitive approach. More broadly, it increases understanding of the potential for correctional innovations that endeavor to change the status quo. Attention to the values that underpin incarceration, and how these are negotiated, experienced, merged, and changed, adds nuance to a debate that all too often resorts to irreconcilable binaries, such as prison as usual or prison abolition. This research examines how correctional systems negotiate potentially conflicting principles and values in the course of policy development and implementation and how prison staff and incarcerated people experience these efforts toward reform. The following questions guide the inquiry: 1) How have Nordic principles of incarceration, such as dignity, normalization, and resocialization, among others, been translated for implementation in U.S. corrections, in both policy and practice? 2) What are the short-term and long-term goals of the adoption of the Nordic model of incarceration? 3) What factors facilitate or constrain the achievement of these goals? 4) How is the implementation of these principles experienced by correctional staff and incarcerated people? The research methods include observation, interviews, and analysis of archival documents and focus on several sites in the United States where the Nordic model is being implemented. Variation across the study sites allows for the analysis of multiple pathways of innovation in correctional policy and practice. This variegated comparative analysis contributes to the scientific understanding of how change is accomplished in carceral institutions and how that change is experienced. This understanding lends insight into the potential for sustainability of initiatives that adopt the Nordic Model. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.