Abstract
Labour in different forms has been a central tenet in most carceral systems from the early modern houses of correction and up until today. At the same time, the central feature of the welfare state that developed during the post-Second World War decades was labour or, to quote one of Sweden’s most well-known political economists, “work has been the cement of the Swedish welfare state. In the following I will discuss the connection between labour and the Swedish prisons in the post-Second World War decades. More precisely, I will argue that the real character of the much-talked-about Swedish prison reforms in this period cannot be understood unless one takes into account the central role given to labour. Furthermore, a closer look at the role given to labour will also contribute to a more general discussion about whether we can talk about a special Swedish (or Scandinavian) model for penal reform.
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Notes
- 1.
The most important historical exception to this rule is the late 18th and 19th century penitentiaries in the United States and some European countries where, instead, the organization and architecture were modelled with the goal of the inmate’s inner transformation in solitary confinement. The type of labour carried out in these institutions were mostly of a pre-modern handicraft character. For a discussion of Scandinavian 19th century penitentiaries (see Nilsson 1999; Scharff Smith 2003).
- 2.
- 3.
However, it must be underlined that the Swedish welfare state was not something that came out of a grand design or some master plan. It was rather the result of several determining factors: a special balance of power between the social classes, a favourable economic situation, parliamentary compromises, a step-by-step reformism as well as close political, economic and administrative cooperation with the labour movements in the other Nordic countries. See, e.g. Christiansen and Markula (2006).
- 4.
- 5.
There is a considerable amount of literature dedicated to what can be loosely described as “prison reform”. However, prison reform is a problematic concept given its positive connotations among politicians and prison administrators as well as among great many scholars. See Murton (1976) and Rotman (1990).
- 6.
However, in a review of research following the Rusche-Kirchheimer thesis, Alessandro De Giorgi concludes that there are some positive correlations from different national contexts, at the same time as he underlines the need for a more complex model that opens up for including political, sociological and ideological factors. See De Georgi (2006, pp. 19–33).
- 7.
But another more informal association perhaps better describes the character of the penal reform work. This was the Criminal Policy Society founded by Schlyter in 1945 as an informal meeting place for a wide array of penal reformers, jurists, psychiatrists, physicians, social workers, prison bureaucrats as well as politicians and other laymen in the penal arena. The existence of this association mirrors the widening of the penal reform field to include a broader group of professionals that was characteristic of the emerging welfare state. See Sundell (1998).
- 8.
However, as chairman both of the Law Committee in the Swedish parliament and, above all, of the Penal Law Committee, Schlyter came to occupy a key position in Swedish penal policy for another two decades.
- 9.
Draft for a Regulation on general rules for prisoner treatment and care, 18 October 1933. Penal Law Committee Acts 33:1. Quoted from Petersson Hjelm (2002, p. 136, my translation).
- 10.
Prison Instruction 1938:34. Quoted from Petersson Hjelm (2002, p. 141, my translation).
- 11.
See also Svensk Författningssamling 1945:872 Lag om verkställighet av frihetsstraff m. m. §§ 24, 52, 53, 58 and 65.
- 12.
During this period seven new prisons, including two youth prisons, equipped with modern machinery parks were erected. To this could be added the modernization of the largest of the security prisons. In 1971 these facilities housed approximately 1,500 prisoners of a total number of 4,000 held in closed institutions. Although serving their sentences in older prisons also the large majority of the remaining 2,500 prisoners worked with industrial production. See Kriminalvården (1971, 60–62, 80).
- 13.
Sw. Arbetsmarknadsstyrelsen.
- 14.
Sw. Vårdinstitutionernas industrinämnd.
- 15.
It should be emphasized that “prisoners” in this context refers to those serving sentences, which means that remand prisoners are excluded.
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Nilsson, R. (2017). “First We Build the Factory, Then We Add the Institution”: Prison, Work and Welfare State in Sweden c.1930–1970. In: Scharff Smith, P., Ugelvik, T. (eds) Scandinavian Penal History, Culture and Prison Practice. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58529-5_2
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