Interview

Denmark: on behalf of prisoners

The role of a spokesperson in Danish prisons

Each of the country’s prisons has a spokesperson, elected amongst the prison population. Their primary purpose is to exchange with the administration on behalf of the prisoners. How are the spokespersons elected? How do they perform their duties? What value do they bring to the prisons and to the prisoners?

Henrick is a former spokesperson and he shared his views and experience with us.

I also had a job as a prison driver, which meant that I was allowed to drive prisoners to the hospital that were not considered at risk of running away.

When I first arrived as a spokesperson, I did not have the possibility to look into what happened before. There was no documentation of past cases.