this human world - Prison Island Bastoy

PRISON ISLAND BAST�Y
documentary
Niederlande, 2010
DVD, 55 Min. (OmeU)
by Michel Kapteijns

followed by a discussion

7. December
Topkino
8.30 p.m. / Gro�er Saal

Bast�y is a state prison island located in the Oslo fjord, Norway. 115 convicted men are doing time here: for fraud, bank robbery, sexual offense, murder. The guards carry no weapons and there are no cells, cameras or fences. In Western Europe recidivism is 60?70% but on Bast�y, it’s only 30%. Here they believe that by giving people responsibility and mutual respect there is a bigger chance they will pick up a better life, and the approach seems to work.
“If you treat a man as a beast it will be a beast. If you treat a man as a criminal it will be a criminal. If you treat a man as a human being it will be a human being.” (Bear Heart, 1996)