High Comfort Containment
High-Comfort Containment is the approach to dangerous individuals within the prevention-based justice framework of the Sanctuary Protocol. For the small number of people who pose genuine ongoing risk, containment is provided in dignified conditions with pathways to demonstrated change.
Core Principle
Dehumanizing conditions create more dangerous people, not fewer.
Every person who leaves containment returns to the community. How they're treated inside determines how they behave outside. Cruelty doesn't produce safety—it produces damaged individuals who damage others.
Who Requires Containment
Under prevention-based justice, most current prisoners would not be confined:
- Drug offenses → health response
- Property crimes → economic security and restoration
- Violence from trauma → treatment
- Survival crimes → Housing First and support
The remaining population requiring containment is small: individuals who pose genuine, ongoing, verified risk of serious harm to others despite intervention.
What High-Comfort Containment Looks Like
Physical Environment
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Private rooms | Sufficient space, natural light, personal belongings allowed |
| Outdoor access | Gardens, exercise areas, natural environments |
| Communal spaces | Social interaction, shared meals, recreation |
| Aesthetic quality | Designed for human wellbeing, not punishment |
Services and Support
- Comprehensive mental health treatment
- Addiction services (if applicable)
- Education and skill development
- Meaningful activity and work
- Social connection with approved contacts
- Restorative dialogue opportunities (when safe)
Pathway to Change
Clear criteria for progression:
- Demonstrated understanding of harm caused
- Engagement with treatment
- Development of prosocial skills
- Gradual increases in freedom matched with demonstrated safety
- Vouch network reconstruction with genuine community ties
The Norwegian Model
Norway's prison system embodies many high-comfort containment principles:
Halden Prison
Often called "the most humane prison in the world":
- Rooms with en-suite bathrooms and furniture
- Recording studio, climbing wall, jogging trails
- Staff trained in rehabilitation, not punishment
- Maximum sentence of 21 years (with possible preventive detention extensions)
- Recidivism rate around 20% (compared to 40%+ in punitive systems)
Philosophy
Norwegian Correctional Service motto: "Better out than in." The goal is returning people to society better than they entered, not warehousing them in conditions that guarantee deterioration.
Why It Works
Neurological Recovery
Chronic stress from harsh conditions impairs brain function. Prefrontal cortex atrophy from prolonged adversity reduces capacity for judgment and impulse control. High-comfort environments allow neurological recovery.
Social Learning
People learn behavior from their environment. Environments of violence and domination teach violence and domination. Environments of respect and care teach respect and care.
Trust Building
Rehabilitation requires therapeutic alliance—trust between the person and their treatment providers. Punitive conditions destroy trust. Humane conditions make it possible.
Cost Analysis
The 5-Star Hotel Comparison
Australia's justice system costs approximately $30 billion annually with 40% recidivism.
Simple math: we could put every prisoner in a 5-star hotel with personal butlers for less than we currently spend. And the outcomes would probably be better.
High-comfort containment costs more per person per day than warehouse-style prisons, but:
- Smaller population (most current prisoners wouldn't be confined)
- Lower recidivism (fewer people returning)
- Reduced collateral costs (family support, intergenerational effects)
- Better social return (people exiting as contributors, not threats)
Resource Reallocation
Current allocation (approximate):
- $25B on prisons and courts
- $5B on police
Prevention allocation:
- $5B on high-comfort containment (smaller population)
- $10B on prevention infrastructure
- $10B on housing and economic security
- $5B on treatment and restoration
This budget prevents more harm while treating humans as humans.
Objections and Responses
"This is too nice for criminals"
The question isn't whether people "deserve" comfort. The question is: what produces safety? Evidence shows that humane conditions produce safer outcomes.
"What about victims?"
Victims deserve safety—which prevention achieves better than punishment. Many victims prefer that harm not recur over retribution. Restorative processes give victims voice that punitive systems deny.
"Some people are irredeemable"
For the very small number who cannot safely return to community even after intensive intervention, high-comfort containment continues indefinitely. This is protection, not punishment. The goal is safety, not suffering.
"This removes deterrence"
Research consistently shows that certainty of consequence matters more than severity. Most crime occurs without consideration of consequences. Prevention addresses root causes; containment conditions don't affect deterrence significantly.
Graduated Reintegration
Release isn't a single event but a process:
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Internal progression | Movement within facility to lower-security, more autonomous environments |
| Supervised external access | Day release, work programs, family visits |
| Transitional placement | Supported housing with ongoing services |
| Community return | Full release with monitoring (as support, not surveillance) |
| Network reconstruction | Rebuilding vouch relationships and community ties |
At each stage, freedom increases as safety is demonstrated. Setbacks don't mean starting over—they mean identifying what support was missing.
See Also
References
- Pratt, J. (2008). Scandinavian Exceptionalism in an Era of Penal Excess. British Journal of Criminology.
- Jewkes, Y. & Johnston, H. (2007). The Evolution of Prison Architecture. Handbook on Prisons.
- Halden Prison documentation and Norwegian Correctional Service reports