Herstedvester Prison

Herstedvester Prison
Map
LocationHerstedvester, Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark.
StatusOperational
Population166
Opened1935
Managed byThe Danish Prison and Probation Service

Herstedvester Prison (Danish: Herstedvester Fængsel) is a prison in Herstedvester, Greater Copenhagen, Denmark, for treatment by the Danish Prison and Probation Service. It houses convicted felons and occasionally people with custody rulings in need of psychiatric assistance and observation.

Herstedvester was built in 1935 for the detention and imprisonment of psychopaths.[1] Upon establishment, they were the first European prison to use a treatment method known as democratic therapeutic community.[2] The institution has a capacity of 143 people in the closed section and 23 in the semi-open section.[3]

Greenlandic prisoners considered too high risk for the open-style prisons in Greenland all used to serve in Herstedvester.[4] In 2019, Greenland's first fully closed prison opened in the capital Nuuk and Greenlandic prisoners in Herstedvester were offered a transfer. However, a large proportion have wished to continue serving their sentence in Herstedvester instead of Nuuk.[5][6]

Several notable inmates have for periods stayed at Herstedvester, including Abel Klemmensen, Peter Lundin and Peter Madsen.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ Puri, Basant; Treasaden, Ian H. (2017-08-23). Forensic Psychiatry: Fundamentals and Clinical Practice. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4822-5456-3.
  2. ^ Stevens, Alisa (2012). Offender Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Communities: Enabling Change the TC Way. Routledge. pp. 12–14. ISBN 978-0-415-67018-0.
  3. ^ "Herstedvester Fængsel". kriminalforsorgen.dk. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  4. ^ Sillesen, Lene Bech (2020-09-17). "The Return: How everything became trauma". Harper's Magazine. ISSN 0017-789X. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  5. ^ "Grønlændere får egen anstalt men de fleste vil blive i dansk fængsel". TV2. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  6. ^ "Indsatte foretrækker Herstedvester frem for Nuuk". Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Ingen prøveløsladelse til Abel". Sermitsiaq. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  8. ^ "Lundin bliver siddende i Herstedvester". Berlingske. 15 March 2003. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  9. ^ Kwai, Isabella (2021-02-09). "Peter Madsen, Killer of Kim Wall, Is Sentenced for a Jailbreak". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-15.