# French & Danish prisons described in "Catch Me If You Can" (spoilers)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-danish-prisons-described-in-catch-me-if-you-can-spoilers/188927
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 16, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-danish-prisons-described-in-catch-me-if-you-can-spoilers/188927 "2003-07-16T17:42:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2003, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-danish-prisons-described-in-catch-me-if-you-can-spoilers/188927/1 "2003-07-16T17:42:10Z")
This is not really from the movie, but from the book. (Only the French one is in the movie) The main character is sent to prison in a few countries for counterfeiting. The descriptions of the prisons struck me as hard to believe in our modern world (and this is a bit hazy since I don’t have the book at hand here):
French prison: solitary confinement, naked, no light. Almost inhumane.
Danish prison: like a hospital ward. Very little security. Barely even punishment. (This might not have been Danish, but definitely some Scandanivian country.)
The book took place in the late 70’s I believe. Were the prisons really like that back then? And are the prisons still like that now in these two countries?
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-danish-prisons-described-in-catch-me-if-you-can-spoilers/188927/2 "2003-07-16T19:14:58Z")
I haven’t read his book, but I’ve seen Frank Abegnale interviewed. He said he’d been in prison in three countries: Sweden, France and the United States. And while he didn’t go into detail, he said (essentially) “A Swedish prison is like a Holiday Inn. A French prison is a hellhole. An American prison is somewhere in between.”
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-danish-prisons-described-in-catch-me-if-you-can-spoilers/188927/3 "2003-07-16T19:48:26Z")
Here’s a link on Amnesty International’s web site about some recent findings regarding France’s prisons:
[http://www.web.amnesty.org/web/ar2000web.nsf/countries/dd0509c219703ee2802568f200552922](http://www.web.amnesty.org/web/ar2000web.nsf/countries/dd0509c219703ee2802568f200552922)
Since these sorts of things tend to improve over time, it’s likely things were worse 30 years ago, rather than better.
Here’s also a link to a description of a book written by a French doctor who worked in one of the large prisons in France for 7 years:
[http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7233/465/a](http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/320/7233/465/a)
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-danish-prisons-described-in-catch-me-if-you-can-spoilers/188927/4 "2003-07-16T20:04:12Z")
Here’s an article that describes a women’s prison in Sweden as “lavish:”
[http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1027079.htm](http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1027079.htm)
Another article, same subject:
[http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2552422a12,00.html](http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2552422a12,00.html)