Norway isn’t a country that is used to dealing with violence on a mass scale, and having lived there at the time of Anders Behring Breivik’s mass killing I saw first-hand the utter shock and disbelief that followed his senseless murder of 77 people back in 2011.

Not that his time in jail has softened him at all, evident from the Nazi salute he wielded during a court appearance to argue his inhumane treatment in prison.

Below from the BBC:

Breivik, 37, is mainly challenging the government over his solitary confinement, as well as over general conditions including what he claims is the excessive use of handcuffs.

In his opening statement, Breivik’s lawyer Oystein Storrvik said his client’s punishment was worse than the death penalty, which is outlawed in Norway.

Breivik accuses the Norwegian government of breaching two clauses of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

One of the clauses guarantees the right to respect for “private and family life” and “correspondence”, while the other prohibits “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”…

Breivik is the only prisoner in the high-security wing of Skien prison, about 100km (60 miles) south-west of the capital Oslo. Authorities say Breivik’s correspondence is censored to stop him setting up an “extremist network”.

His visits are almost all with professionals across a glass partition. According to his lawyer, Breivik’s mother was the only person allowed to visit him without being separated by the glass screen.

Even when considering that Norway prides itself on treating its inmates with dignity and respect you’d have to believe Anders is fighting a losing battle.

Although the maximum prison sentence for any offence in Norway is 21 years Breivik is unlikely to ever see freedom, the system able to extend that incarceration indefinitely if they feel the inmate is insufficiently rehabilitated and a danger to society.

Something tells me that he too is safer behind bars.

[source:bbc]