Sweden
Rehabilitation vs. Punishment

"Our role is not to punish. The punishment is the prison sentence: They have been deprived of their freedom. The punishment is that they are with us" - Nils Öberg, director-general of Sweden's prison and probation service

In Swedish prisons, the focus is on rehabilitation. Sweden's prison system boasts impressive numbers. The number of Swedish prisoners has dropped from 5,722 to 4,500 out of a population of 9.5 million. They are ranked 91st when it comes to number of prisoners from countries around the world. Sweden has closed a number of prisons, and the recidivism rate is around 40%, which is far less than in the U.S. and most European countries.

To put these numbers in perspective, the United States has roughly 2.02 million prisoners. That is 341 times more than Sweden! Nils Öberg, the director-general of Sweden's prisons and probation services, believes that the way Sweden treats its prisoners is partly responsible for keeping incarceration and recidivism rates so low.

The Nordic Model
While high-security prisons in the U.S. often involve caging and dehumanizing a prisoner, prisons in Nordic countries (such as Sweden) are designed to treat them as people with psycho-social needs that are to be carefully attended to. Prison workers fulfill a dual role of enforcer and social worker, balancing behavioral regulation with preparation for re-entry into society.
Common areas included table tennis, pool tables, steel darts and aquariums. Prisoner art ornamented walls painted in mild greens and browns and blues. But the most profound difference is that correctional officers fill both rehabilitative and security roles. Each prisoner has a "contact officer" who monitors and helps advance progress toward return to the world outside — a practice introduced to help officers avoid the damage experienced by performing purely punitive functions.
This picture shows a kitchen part of a working area inside the high-security prison in the town of Norrtaelje, Sweden on November 15, 2013.
Prisoners at Swedish prisons are able to study and take part in university courses so they are able to move on with new jobs as soon as they're released from prison, which encourages them to not re-offend. The main focus of Swedish prisons is that of rehabilitation of the prisoners. The rehabilitation method is achieved through giving the inmates sufficient library access, access to university courses, and apprentice courses in learning a range of skills.
American needs to adopt Sweden's use of rehabilitation
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. It has only 5% of the world's population, but one-quarter of its population is comprised of prisoners. American prisons are dangerously overcrowded, house 10 times as many mentally ill individuals as state hospitals, keep people locked up for long periods of time, and are plagued by inmate abuse. They focus more on punishment rather than rehabilitation. Nearly two-thirds of inmates released end up returning to prison.
"It has to do with whether you decide to use prison as your first option or as a last resort, and what you want your probation system to achieve. Some people have to be incarcerated, but it has to be a goal to get them back out into society in better shape than they were when they came in." - Nils Oberg