不設防的芬蘭監獄

In Finland’s Open Prisons， 1）Inmates Have the Keys

To find the inmates at Kerava Prison， I walked on a tree-lined path and opened the door to a greenhouse. “We have bunnies here，” says Hannu Kallio， a 2）convicted drug 3）smuggler.

Hannu： Quite relaxing to be here.

Every day the 70 inmates here go to work in this greenhouse. On this day they’re potting delicate 4）seedlings， gearing up for a big spring sale.

Hannu： Every greenhouse is full of flowers.

This greenhouse is part of an open prison， which means the three guards are nowhere in sight， there are no gates， no locks， no uniforms， and， as a few inmates informed me.

Prisoner： Yeah， we even have our own keys. Yeah.

Open prisons have been around in Finland since the 1930s. Back then they were more like labor colonies. These days， they’re the last step of a prison sentence. It’s where inmates prove they’re ready to 5）transition back to regular life. And it’s not just for non-violent 6）offenders. Marcus， Hannu， Enyuha. Their crimes range from drug offences to murder， and their sentences from one year to life. They’ve all spent time in regular prisons. They all had to apply to come here. They pay rent to the prison， they also pay taxes and have cellphones. They go home for the holidays. They even do their grocery shopping in town.

I have to admit I was kind of surprised to learn that people convicted of murder can do their time in a gateless prison a few bus stops from a residential neighborhood. But the locals don’t seem to mind. In fact， they were confused when I asked if they were concerned about sharing the town with prisoners. Some told me that the prisoners improve the community by restoring historic sites and cleaning up public spaces. Not every prisoner’s a candidate though.

Tapio Lappi-Sepp？l？ （Head of the Institute of Criminology， University of Helsinki）： Let’s be clear that we have high risk， violent， repeat offenders—every country has them—and they are not working in open prison.

But over a third of Finland’s entire prison population lives in open facilities， and the system seems to work here. A few decades ago the country had one of the highest 7）incarceration rates on the continent. Now it has one of the lowest.

They’re in some unlikely places， too. Helsinki’s No. 1 tourist attraction， 8）Suomenlinna Island， is home to an open prison.

Jukka Tiihonen spent a few years on the island completing a sentence for murder. Before he came here， Jukka spent seven years in a traditional closed facility. He says， on his first day here in open prison， he was assigned to work on fixing some old walls. He found himself in an odd situation， with an axe in one hand， a knife in the other， and tourists everywhere.

Jukka： I know， it was very strange.

But Tiihonen says， after a few months here， he started to feel different.

Jukka： Maybe start to feel like a normal people [sic]， not a prisoner anymore， who will tell you off.

He applied to study at a university in town. A few months later he was hopping on the ferry to Helsinki every day to study for a master’s degree in Spanish. When Jukka finished his sentence in 2013， he says the transition to regular life wasn’t that noticeable.

He now works for an NGO that helps recentlyreleased prisoners find housing.

Jukka： I want to go…do what normal people do.

為了去見凱拉瓦監獄的服刑人員，我走過一條林蔭小路，打開了一扇通往溫室的門。正在服刑的毒品走私犯漢努·卡里奧告訴我：“我們這里有兔子。”

漢努：在這里的氣氛相當輕松。

這里的70名服刑人員每天都會到這個溫室來工作。他們今天的工作是將嬌嫩的幼苗裝盆，為春季大促銷做準備。

漢努：每個溫室都開滿了鮮花。

這個溫室是一所開放式監獄的一部分，這就意味著你不會看到這里的三名獄警，這里沒有門，不上鎖，沒有囚服。此外，正如幾個服刑人員告訴我的那樣：

囚犯：對，我們甚至有自己的鑰匙，是這樣的。

芬蘭從上世紀30年代起就開始推行開放式監獄。那時的開放式監獄更像是勞動營。現在，這里是入獄服刑的最后一個環節。在這里，服刑人員要證明自己已經做好了重返正常生活的準備。開放式監獄不僅只為非暴力犯人而設。比如馬庫斯、漢努、恩虞哈三人，他們的罪行包括販毒和謀殺，刑期從一年到無期徒刑不等。他們都曾在普通監獄里服刑，必須提出申請才能到這里來。他們要向監獄付房租，還要納稅，可以擁有手機。他們可以回家過節，甚至可以去鎮上購物。

我得承認，知道被判謀殺罪的人可以在一個不設門的監獄里服刑，而且該監獄距離居民住宅區只有幾站公交車的路程時，我很驚訝。但當地人似乎并不介意。事實上，當我問他們對與犯人在同一個鎮上生活是否有顧慮時，他們感到迷惑不解。有人告訴我，犯人們修復歷史遺址，清掃公共場所，使社區環境得到了改善。……