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Dagbladet was able to reveal Friday that the Young Bloods leader and a rival gang member attacked each other in the visiting room at the Oslo prison.
Farukh Qureshi, leader of the Oslo Prison Officers Association and a representative in the Oslo Labor Party council, is concerned that gang conflicts are moving behind walls and calls for action.
– People go to jail without us knowing their background. We need better knowledge and resources to work proactively with gangs, he says.
Qureshi believes that prison should be, to a greater extent, a stage for change, where concrete measures are put in place to help people get out of these environments.
– We do not have enough knowledge about the problems of gangs and the dynamics that exist in these groups.
Alarms: – Ends in chaos
– Trivia is behind
Qureshi lives and is a politician in the Søndre Nordstrand district. The district that, among other things, has hosted the Holmlia Young Bloods gang. Here you see young guys who openly use and sell drugs. At the same time, the police believe that the Young Bloods gang disbanded after the leader (29) was imprisoned.
– We must end crime and prevent more young people from falling here. The focus on conflict resolution has been absent. The problems in the streets are not solved, without solving the conflicts. There are trifles behind serious incidents. The conflicts are not just over territory, but create artificial divisions in the districts and the city, says Qureshi.
Avisa Oslo has previously described a Veitvet incident in October last year. Four teenagers attacked an 18-year-old, where two of them stabbed the boy. In court it was explained that the conflict between them was that he had “looked” at someone.
– There are two clues to this. One is the obvious drug crime. So you have in parallel what happens with conflicts. Both are serious, but the latter is the one that concerns me the most at the moment. That you are indirect part of a group and that this is enough to end in a fight and potentially in serious incidents of violence.
Oslo juvenile offenders: these are the codes
The scope has increased
He points out that many advocate harsher punishments. He doesn’t think that will solve the problem. Qureshi believes the solution lies in better facilitating the prison offer, and then a better understanding of the gangs is needed.
– Working with these groups is demanding. Of the youngest who enter, there is a lower threshold for threats. They need to stand out when they come to jail. The scope of those from different environments has increased and makes it demanding for us. Tasks do not match resources.
Qureshi explains that it is important to have time to talk to prisoners. Building relationships. Trust is important in order to help them. It comes from spending time together.
– With the current resource situation and lack of understanding on the part of political leaders, this is choking. This is at the expense of the social mission. Both the political leadership and the leadership must take this into account.
He points out that police say they live in harsher environments than before.
– As a prison in the capital, we do the same. Ideally, we should have two or three dedicated employees who worked proactively with this full time. Who builds relationships, seeks opportunities to resolve conflicts and mediates between groups, in cooperation with the police. But it seems like a utopia when there is no money for normal operation.
Prisoner: Fear rebellion in jail
– Move the problem
In 2018, NOK 30 million was allocated to the police to increase their presence in the south of Oslo. This led them to bring several of the main characters behind the gangs. At the same time, the economy has not increased in prisons, which now have to deal with the same people.
– The problem is transferred to prison, without the prison service having neither the resources nor the knowledge to deal with it, says Qureshi.
In this way, the gang war continues within the walls.
– When you hit in a prison, it is the employees who will enter and interrupt the situation.
Therefore, Qureshi believes that it would have been better if it had been possible to prevent the situation from arising, and therefore calls for criminal attention to increase focus and for political leadership to give them the resources, as well as better cooperation between the police. and criminal care.
If anything is to be done about it, it is first and foremost to implement measures to resolve conflicts at different levels. They are environments with internal and external pressure. It is complex. Some must take the initiative to create peace. That clue is missing from the environments debate, he believes.
Qureshi believes that the police must take a central role in resolving conflicts, both inside and outside the wall, and that the prison service must be involved in that work. They need to identify trustees in the environment and build trust with them. He points out that these will one day get out of jail, and then the question is what has been done in the meantime, so that this does not turn into an eternal circular dance.
– Norway treated me like an animal
– Fear of revenge
He says that many inmates who return to prison after being released say it was difficult to create a life in society afterward. Without a job and a permanent home, it’s easy to slip back into old habits, and especially if conflicts haven’t been resolved.
– I have also heard many say that they want to get out of crime, but they say that it is not so easy. It is about fear of revenge and that it can be interpreted as a sign of weakness. This is complicated and complex.
These regulars cost society a lot of money. Therefore, Qureshi also believes that people should start to worry about what happens inside the walls.
– What happens in prison also affects outside society, he says.
Prison staff have already sounded the alarm about the increased use of violence and threats within the walls, and that offenders from gangs in conflict with each other require a lot of resources.
– The number of incidents of violence and threats increases, both against employees and inmates. The severity of the incidents is also worse, says union leader Tor Erik Larsen at Dagbladet’s Vocational Association for Prison and Probation Service.
He explains that there are also large dark numbers, because it takes employees a long time to report all incidents. Hence, it degrades in a hectic everyday life.
I have no figures for this year
Dagbladet has requested an overview of the number of reported incidents of violence and threats in Norwegian prisons in 2020, but the Norwegian Prison and Probation Service informs him that they will not release the figures until February 2021.
– The budgetary situation in prison care is demanding. The budget allocation in the regions is currently being discussed, and this will be discussed with the civil servants’ organizations before the final allocation is ready. Until then, it’s hard to say anything more concrete, says Deputy Director Jan-Erik Sandlie at KDI.
The Ministry of Justice does not wish to comment on the case.
