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Comment by fsiefken | Hacker News Reader

Regarding Sweden, does Breivik's prison sentence and stay (solitary confinement) constitute torture? "1 March 2017, the Court of Appeals upheld part of Brevik`s appeal that Article 3 of the convention on human rights had been breached, that he has been subjected to degrading treatment but that his solitary confinement did not violate Breivik's rights" (source: wikipedia) Or what about the solitary confinement of Gottfrid Svartholm, co-founder of ThePirateBay? https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/the-swedes-have-the-pirat...

Regarding The Netherlands, the killer of Theo Van Gogh, Mohammed B., is also held in solitary confinement. Do all of these constitute torture or an inhumane treatment?

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Breivik's solitary confinement is also much, much different than the little rooms in the US. He has 3 rooms to move around in. He can cook for himself, play instruments, has exercise equipment. He has a computer, though I think his internet access is limited to nil. He has medical and mental health care at his disposal. He can have visitors, though they are through glass.

They made an exception to that glass before his mother died - he was allowed direct physical contact with his mother.

Not only that, but I'm pretty sure he can earn his way outside of solitary. And theoretically, he'll wind up getting released. I've heard it is possible to label him a threat to society, in which case he's more likely to wind up in a mental institution at that point - but it really depends on what he does in the next 10 years or so.

I strongly doubt that Breivik will ever be let out of solitary confinement unless the Norwegian high court finds that the Norwegian penal system violates Norwegian law. I doubt that even a conviction in the European court of human rights would cause Norwegian authorities to change the practice.

The official explanation for the solitary confinement is that other prisoners would kill him if they had access to him. The word punishment has never been been used to describe his extraordinary sentencing conditions. Actually, it's pretty ironic to have this discussion the same week that a convicted child sex offender was killed in a Norwegian prison after numerous warnings.

Breivik killed dozens of children of Arbeiderpartiet politicians, one of the biggest parties and the ruling party at the time. Norwegian society, great though it is in many ways, is still not capable of admitting that our relationship with the rule of law is somewhat selective.

Note: This is not in _any_ was a defence of Breivik's actions or ideology, rather a commentary on how legal principles are difficult for even a principled society to uphold in extreme cases. (It's also worth pointing out that Norway has been repeatedly criticised by the UN for our use of solitary confinement against arrestees that are not yet charged with a crime).

> Actually, it's pretty ironic to have this discussion the same week that a convicted child sex offender was killed in a Norwegian prison after numerous warnings.

That an inmate gets killed in a Norwegian prison is extremely rare. As you mention it did happened this week, but the last time before that was in 1982 (according to http://frifagbevegelse.no/nffmagasinet/drapet-i-ringerike-fe... )

Breivik would be in Norway. He is not completely isolated btw, as he has visitors (IIRC, from an organisation that normally visits the lonely or elderly — he is not permitted to choose his own visitors).

Breivik is Norwegian.

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