Will eco-prison reform criminals? – World Environment – MSNBC.com:

The island is about 1 1/2 miles from the mainland, but that’s not what keeps inmates in. Few escape from Norway’s most pleasant prison because that could mean returning to a maximum-security unit.

All of the prison’s agricultural products are raised without artificial chemicals, such as insecticides or man-made fertilizers, and with humane treatment of livestock. It also strives to be energy self-sufficient, using renewable power.

Alnaes said the prison’s philosophy is what he called “human ecology.”