# Should other countries try "open prisons" like Finland? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 16, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800 "2015-04-16T01:30:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/21 "2015-04-16T19:53:53Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Maybe. But, as a practical matter, you’ve probably just described [O.J. Simpson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_robbery_case). Sure. But what are the chances of him snapping a third time? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/22 "2015-04-16T20:16:50Z")
Finnish person here. I don’t think the residents of Suomenlinna are a good example for peoples attitudes to having an open prison in their backyard so to speak. There’s a long waiting list to get an apartment there and the community is very artist focused and liberal leaning. That said, there isn’t any controversy around open prisons in the public opinion. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/23 "2015-04-17T00:47:09Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > Start someone like that out next to me, that’ll work fine I think. > > But someone who has been in a US prison for a few years? I am not at all sure I’d want them living next to me no matter how reasonable they were when they entered prison. \ My sister in law married a guy who is now out of prison - he did time for killing someone during a drug deal gone bad. He claims/she claims he is fully rehabilitated, however I really have issues with the idea of him coming over to visit and me not locking up my pain meds … I have heard of too many instances where someone was not as rehabilitated as was claimed. I also hope that he doesn’t backslide in such a manner as to cause her to lose the house that she has been making a home and paying on for the past 20 years. \ ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/24 "2015-04-17T12:57:04Z")
> [@skdo23](#): > > Maybe. But, as a practical matter, you’ve probably just described [O.J. Simpson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson_robbery_case). But he and Nicole weren’t together when he killed her. And he didn’t snap because he discovered her with someone in the heat of the moment. He came to her house to kill her. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/25 "2015-04-17T14:20:38Z")
Open prisons are no big deal, we have a fair few in the UK. Prisoners do abscond, but it is not in their interest. They usually turn themselves back in a few days later. We use them quite a lot for murderers approaching their prison end term dates, they are still on a life licence so any screw ups of any sort, and they are back in again - and probably for several years. Its not unusual to have a lifer finishing maybe a 25-30 year stretch and end up in open prison, after all, we are going to release him at some point, best to reintegrate them where possible or find out if they are ever likely to be fit for release by giving them a chance to prove it one way or the other. Some open prisons will send their prisoners out to work for commercial rate wages - depends what’s available in the area at the time - they can own cars or bikes as long as they are fully road legal with licence, insurance, road tax etc - they may well need them to get to work. Most prisoners are not trusted to this level, but its just one way to manage them ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/26 "2015-04-17T17:36:46Z")
We have these for youth offenders here in the USA. I think these would be good for non-violent offenders, those who killed by means of a accident, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/27 "2015-04-17T19:36:29Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > But he and Nicole weren’t together when he killed her. And he didn’t snap because he discovered her with someone in the heat of the moment. He came to her house to kill her. Not to hijack, but I thought one explanation why he killed them was he was stalking her and thought she and Ron Goldman were romantically involved. He was pissed off because Nicole wouldn’t let him sit with her at their daughter’s dance recital, thought it was because she was involved with someone else, and went over to her house to confront her. He found Goldman there, and killed both of them with the knife. I don’t see how an open prison system would help with OJ, however. His earlier beatings and attacks on her didn’t net him any jail time, so a difference in prison type wouldn’t have affected him. And he was acquitted of the murders, even though he was obviously the one who knifed both of them to death.\* Regards, Shodan \*IMO, but in the same way that it is IMO that water is dampish. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/28 "2015-04-17T22:17:37Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Not to hijack, but I thought one explanation why he killed them was he was stalking her and thought she and Ron Goldman were romantically involved. > > He was pissed off because Nicole wouldn’t let him sit with her at their daughter’s dance recital, thought it was because she was involved with someone else, and went over to her house to confront her. He found Goldman there, and killed both of them with the knife. Oh, I thought that Ron Goldman arrived during or after the murder, not before. In any case, even if Goldman and Nicole were romantically involved, it wouldn’t be a crime of passion, since he was basically stalking an ex-partner, not walking in on someone he was in a relationship with. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2015, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800/29 "2015-04-18T09:33:34Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Finnish person here. I don’t think the residents of Suomenlinna are a good example for peoples attitudes to having an open prison in their backyard so to speak. There’s a long waiting list to get an apartment there and the community is very artist focused and liberal leaning. That said, there isn’t any controversy around open prisons in the public opinion. Thanks for the information. It’s always good to hear from someone “closer to the ground” so to speak. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-other-countries-try-open-prisons-like-finland/717800.md?page=1)