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Nesta and BIT’s event series – How to make good things happen – looks at policy success stories from around the globe, generating fresh insights for UK policymakers to apply at home. For our seventh instalment, we explored how Scandinavian practices are being applied in the US to reduce prison re-offending.

UK prisons have reached a capacity crisis. Overcrowding, resource constraints and poor conditions are harming efforts to rehabilitate prisoners. The government continues to implement early emergency measures to alleviate pressure – but it’s far from a sustainable solution. How should policymakers look to solve this crisis?

On Tuesday 20 May 2025 we looked to the US to draw insights from an experimental approach designed to reduce prison violence, boost morale and lower recidivism rates, at an online and in-person Nesta and BIT event, with experts who implemented the scheme.

We took an in-depth look at the outcomes of the Little Scandinavia Prison Unit – a small subdivision of a prison outside of Philadelphia focusing on rehabilitation and reintegration. Its model is based on prisons in Scandinavia, a region with recidivism rates 25% lower than in the UK. Based on the ‘principle of normalisation’, it asserts that life inside the prison should resemble life outside, with the only punishment being incarceration itself. Reports so far have revealed that within the unit violence is practically non-existent, staff morale is higher compared to the rest of the prison and the use of restricted housing for rule violations is down by 50%.

To help us better understand the success of the scheme, we were joined by: Jordan Hyatt, the Lead Researcher of the experiment, Natasha Porter, CEO of Unlocked Graduates, Ian Blakeman, the Director of the National Offender Management Service and Rachel Sylvester, Chair of the Times Education Commission. We discussed how we might transform our prison system across England and Wales for generations to come.

In this discussion, attendees gained a greater understanding of Scandinavian prison models, such as the Norwegian model, and how similar systems could be applied in the UK to relieve pressure on our prisons. This event was ideal for policymakers searching for inspiration on how to reform policy in this area, academics curious about the impacts of the Scandinavian prison model, and anyone else interested in how to reintegrate offenders into society.