About a year ago, the New York Times magazine published an article detailing, in breathless terms, the wonderful "humaneness" of a Norwegian prison. Halden prison, the Nordic nation's most secure detention center, boasts "modern, cheerful and well-appointed facilities," the Times rhapsodized. The prison's qualities—its "quiet and peaceful atmosphere," the "relative freedom of movement it offers," are a "physical expression of an entire national philosophy about the relative merits of punishment and forgiveness," the Times continued. (This, of course, was presented as a stark contrast to the barbaric United States, where prisons tend to be rather more unpleasant facilities.)
One guest of the Norwegian penal system is Anders Breivik*, the remorseless murderer who slaughtered 77 innocent people—many of them teenagers—in 2011. Breivik was sentenced to 21 years for his ghastly crimes (less than 100 days per murder, as Nicholas Eberstadt noted), and whiles away his days "imprisoned" in a three-bedroom suite with a " treadmill, a fridge, a television with DVD player and even a Sony PlayStation."
But even those plush conditions have been judged beyond the pale by that radically "humane" Norwegian justice system. The Oslo district court has ruled that Breivik is being subjected to "inhuman or degrading treatment" at his resort home. This is because he spends rather too much time alone; he only receives visits from trained professionals. His mail is also censored.
For his suffering, the court has ruled that Breivik is owed more than $40,000 in compensation to cover his legal bills. The suffering of Breivik's victims, and their families, was evidently not part of the equation.
Update: This piece intially incorrectly named the prison that Breivik is a guest of.