Dream Prison

by Leo Cardez • Published May 2025

I had a dream US recidivism rates dropped from 70-80% to 20-25%.

I had a dream the officers were role models, coaches and mentors. They were paid twice their current salary. They went through two to three years of intensive training in a highly competitive selection process where only the best, most ethical, most professional, most mentally balanced were hired. Trainees needed to pass rigorous physical, emotional, and mental tests while studying law, ethics, criminology, reintegration and social work. They did hands-on training for one year, proving themselves worthy, before returning to school for their final exams. 

I had a dream my prison’s architecture was award-winning minimalist chic. It was strategically built to bring in nature and harmonize with the natural surroundings. The living accommodations were airy and clean and gave the sense of an upscale liberal arts college campus. There was a wall, but no barbed wire. The security cameras were hidden. Back in my single man cell I had my own private toilet, sink, shower, fridge, desk, flat TV screen, and a forest view. The Dayroom had comfy sofas, well-equipped kitchenettes, and was peaceful. Quiet even. 

I had a dream I was convicted and sent to prison as my punishment, but not for punishment. I could still do everything a regular citizen could do. I could vote, access quality healthcare and education, in brief I was treated like a human being. 

I had a dream America did not have life sentences, that our maximum sentence was capped at 21 years. That America believed in true rehabilitation and science and not simply revenge and punishment. 

I had a dream I was taught how to become a certified mechanic who worked in an auto shop on the prison grounds, or as a graphic designer, or carpenter, or I received my Bachelor’s degree or PhD. I was allowed out of my cell at daybreak and not locked up again until 8:30p.m. I spent my day working, learning, eating, healthy, exercising, and socializing. In other words, I was becoming my best self and preparing myself to become a positive and contributing member of society upon my release. 

I had a dream all the officers were treated with respect. They would all feel safe, even the female officers. Especially them. There were no officer assaults. Violence overall was so rare it was barely an afterthought. 

I had a dream I was able to stay in contact with my family and even allowed weekend visits where I would stay in a hotel-style room on the prison grounds with my wife and kids. There was a playground for the kids and a big bed for my wife and I. 

I had a dream the counselors only had three inmates to supervise, and they did everything in their power to help us. They got us into programs and life skills courses as needed. They were trained in psychology and sociology and more importantly, they lead with their hearts. 

I had a dream my prison had multiple arts related programs like a prison choir, band, even a recording studio. There were band performances, theatre performances and even cooking demos. 

All this to say I had a dream my prison made me feel like a human again.

What a dream it was…

To me, this pipe dream might as well be on Mars, but in Norway this is the everyday reality of their people in prison. Every single part of my dream is in effect in Norway’s prison system, even in maximum security. And it’s working. Recidivism is down. Violence is down. Crime is down. I have long believed there must be a better way and now I have that proof.

Unfortunately, even as American politicians and prison officials have traveled to Norway and seen firsthand the success of their prison system, we have yet to see any significant changes in that direction to our own prison systems. They have the data and witnessed how Norway’s approach benefits all stakeholders, the public, the inmates, the prison staff, the whole country benefits from safer communities. (Note, Norway instilled these changes in the 1990s which is also around the same time they started topping the World’s Happiest Country list. America doesn’t even crack the top 20. Coincidence?) Why then has America not adopted similar policies? The long-term savings are clear, so it’s not about the money. The prison staff are better trained and paid. They are safer, happier, and healthier so it’s not them. It’s pretty clear the inmates are better off as are their families. Is it simply because it goes against America’s tough on crime Gustice for victims) ethos? Can we not see past our anger? Are we not better than our worst instincts? Do two wrongs make a right? Is this the mercy the Bible preaches? The Christian values our country is supposedly built upon? 

Norway’s approach is predicated on something I mentioned earlier: treating inmates like humans. Are Hoidal, Haldel’s maximum security prison governor (warden) is quoted in the BBC piece I based this essay on as responding to questions about the prison’s “cushy” conditions like so, “Because inmates are human beings. They have done wrong, they must be punished 

(removing their freedom), but they are still human beings … So we are releasing your neighbor 

(Norway does not have life sentences). If we treat inmates like animals in prison, then we will release animals onto your street.” But this has been a lengthy process. 

In the 1990s, as America cracked down on crime by passing harsh punitive laws which led to overincarceration and ballooned costs Norway underwent a rigorous series of criminal justice reforms to pull the focus away from revenge and redirect it toward the rehabilitation of convicted individuals. People in custody were offered daily training and educational programming, furthermore, the role of guard was completely overhauled. In short, their new strategy was to rehumanize people in custody. 

I believe rehumanizing people in prison is the solution to America’s broken criminal justice system (not to mention a heap of other issues). Social sciences expert, Professor Michelle Maiese, explains dehumanization this way, “The psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of human treatment.” Dehumanization starts with language and imagery like felon, convict, killer, rapist, thief, druggie, etc. Labels reduce people to images and can metastasize into loss of empathy, which leads to anger, even hate. Bestselling author and renown speaker, Professor Brene Brown, says most people’s moral code subscribes to the idea that torture is wrong and that all people should be treated with dignity and respect, but when people are perceived or portrayed as less than, criminal, or evil it gives others the right to treat them outside their moral code. Brown explains that this process is often involuntary and subconscious as it is human nature, we are hardwired into finding meaning to language. When prison guards are trained to call our meal times “feeds” and shove slop through chuckholes into cages long enough, seeing inmates as animals isn’t that far a leap. But Norway has offered American people in custody a ray of hope to our otherwise dreary existence. 

First, we must remove all dehumanizing language for people in custody in prisons, in public, in private, and in the media/Hollywood. Remove all inmate numbers and dehumanizing language from all internal and external training materials and communication. Train and ingrain people working in prisons with a new vocabulary and encourage them to question and call out any attempts to reduce someone’s humanity because we know this is the first step to human rights violations. Dehumanization is at the root of all genocides and atrocities throughout human history (think slavery and the Holocaust e.g.). I think a line from Brown’s book, Braving the Wilderness, says it this way: 

Dehumanizing and holding people accountable are mutually exclusive. Humiliation and dehumanization are not accountability or social justice tools, they’re emotional off­loading at best, emotional self-indulgence at worst. 

In Norway, everything evolved from the simple premise that when you treat people like people good things happen. Once you uproot hate and plant kindness in the rich soil of respect the only thing left to do is give the flowers time to bloom (to complete the cliche). 

The rehumanization of Americans convicted with crimes is my new dream. I have long been searching for something I could hold up as proof to say we’re doing it wrong and there’s a better way to say: Here, this is how and this is why. (I can’t thank Norway enough.) Which is not to say I believe it will be easy for America, making dreams come true rarely is. I expect significant pushback and vitriol from our deeply fractioned country, but we are at a critical juncture where we can either push towards creating a better, more humane, fair system or lower our sights, continue to compromise our humanity, and fall deeper into the darkness. For all of America’s faults, I do not believe we as a nation should ever compromise or settle for anything less than our full potential. Investing in this large-scale initiative to rehumanize the inmate population may not be the most expected path, will it be the easiest or cheapest–some discomfort is to be expected. But not all pain is bad; freedom and a certain type of beauty can often be found on the other side of pain if only we muster the courage to try.