If you’re going to commit a jailable offense, do it in Norway, where officials at the high-security Halden prison believe that providing inmates with a “light and positive” environment will make them better people when they re-enter society.

Cells are painted in muted colors and offer a flat-screen TV, a private shower, a toilet and soft, white towels. Barless windows look out onto green landscapes. Staff mingle with inmates freely and violence, shouting and aggression are virtually nonexistent.

“We don’t think about revenge in the Norwegian prison system,” says facility manager Are Hoidal. “We have much more focus on rehabilitation.”

It appears that Anders Breivik, currently on trial in Oslo for the murders of 77 people in a terrorist rampage last summer, will not be housed at Halden. –ARK