Construction has begun on Iceland’s first high-security prison at Stóra-Hraun after a groundbreaking ceremony this week. The event took place in Árborg (Sveitarfélagið Árborg), in the south of the country. Vísir was the first to report on the event.
The ceremony was attended by Þorbjörg S. Gunnlaugsdóttir, Minister of Justice, Bragi Bjarnason, mayor of Árborg, and Ragna Bjarnadóttir, Director of Prison Affairs, according to an official government statement. Three years of preparatory work led up to this point, government sources said.
The Stóra-Hraun project will be built in two phases, with full funding already in place for the first phase. When both phases are completed, the prison will be able to house 128 inmates, making it the largest facility of its kind in Iceland.
In the first phase, construction will include accommodation for 56 prisoners, as well as a school building, workshop, warehouse and the main building. The government has placed emphasis on security, living conditions and rehabilitation as central priorities in designing the facility.
There are differing reports about the total cost: while Vísir has reported the project will amount to 30 billion krónur, the government’s official statement names 17.8 billion ISK as the projected cost for phase one. The prison is expected to begin operations in 2031, according to Vísir.
“This is a historic moment. The prison at Stóra-Hraun will be modern and meet the strictest requirements,” Þorbjörg S. Gunnlaugsdóttir, the Minister of Justice, said in a statement. Halldór Valur Pálsson added, “It is not possible to talk about building a prison as a conventional state housing project.” (Quotes translated from Icelandic.)
Background
Árborg (Sveitarfélagið Árborg) is a municipality in southern Iceland, with Selfoss as its largest town. Established in 1998, Árborg is twinned with towns in Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
Sources
- Stjórnarráð Íslands (Government of Iceland) in Icelandic
- Vísir (first reported) in Icelandic
- DV in Icelandic
