Domestic (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland)
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Former prison guard reveals mutually violent culture
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There are more inmates than ever and historically few employees in Danish prisons. A former prison guard now speaks about a working life that ended with a PTSD diagnosis.
In a prison, both inmates and staff are behind the same bars. This can be psychologically difficult for prison guards, a psychologist explains. (Ā© Forlaget Momenta) 56 minutes ago.
It has never been as strained in Danish prisons as it is now.
Inmates are forced to share single cells (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/overbelaegning-presser-faengslerne-skandale-regeringen), and staff go on sick leave with PTSD.
Therefore, reality today looks completely different for Kim Knudsen, who previously worked as a prison guard. After 20 years in a high-security unit where threatening and violent behavior was everyday life, he can no longer hold a full-time job.
āI am so stressed that because I knew I had to go in today, I couldnāt sleep last night,ā he said earlier today on P1 Morgen (https://www.dr.dk/lyd/p1/p1-morgen/p1-morgen-2026/onsdag-7-oktober-2026-11802633413).
Today the book āRegimets mandā (The Regimeās Man) is published with Kim Knudsen on the cover. And aside from this morningās interview, the bookās content has probably also kept him awake many nights.
The book reveals a violent regime against inmates, where prison guards beat inmates, coordinate statements, and lie in use-of-force reports.
In the book āRegimets mand,ā Kim Knudsen, in collaboration with journalist Casper Fauerholdt, tells of a boundaryless working life as a prison guard.
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Great shortage of prison guards
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Conditions in Danish prisons have in many ways reached unfortunate records.
There are currently 4,300 prison places, but the number of inmates has reached 4,650, writes the Prison Union (https://faengselsforbundet.dk/fagbladet-net/ny-rekord-105-procent-overbelaeg/). The solution is bunk beds, so two inmates can live in single cells.
āThe situation in the prisons is that we are under pressure like never before. We have a record number of prisoners. At the same time, we have historically few prison guards,ā says RenĆ© Larsen, chairman of the Prison Union (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/overbelaegning-presser-faengslerne-skandale-regeringen).
In several single cells like this one, the single bed has been replaced with a bunk bed. (Photo: Ā© Ida Marie Odgaard, Ritzau Scanpix)
Danmarks FƦngsler (Danish Prisons) has made a targeted effort to get more people into training as prison guards, because they need to build several new prisons and establish around 2,000 new places (https://xn--danmarksfngsler-5lb.dk/om-os/nyt-og-presse/nyheder/stoerste-tilgang-af-uniformerede-elever-i-danmarks-faengsler-i-syv-aar/).
This year, this has led to the largest intake
Kim Knudsen describes a workplace where one could not call in sick with a clear conscience.
āWhen I said I felt like hell, they just asked when I was coming back,ā he says, even though it was the work that made him ill.
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Boundaryless work culture: Violence both ways
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Violence was not uncommon when Kim Knudsen worked in the high-security unit.
He says he has, among other things, experienced having boiling water poured over him, which ended in hospital visits, sick leave, and a subsequent report.
It also required a report when he was stabbed with a butter knife by an employee.
But the most boundary-crossing was being sought out outside the prison, he says. That became the reason Kim Knudsen quit his job five years ago.
Also read: Prison guards from Kosovo under training charged with hitting inmate at Vestre FƦngsel (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/faengselsbetjente-fra-kosovo-under-oplaering-sigtet-slaa-indsat-i-vestre-faengsel)
He describes how he was approached in a clothing store and at the swimming pool. But it was an incident where Kim Knudsen was threatened while sitting in his car with his two children that finally made him hang up his uniform.
āI quickly rolled down the window and said I have two children in the car. The reply was āIāll kill your children, and Iāll kill you too,āā he says.
The lack of space in Danish prisons has led to an agreement to be able to send convicts facing deportation to Kosovo to serve their sentences there. (Photo: Ā© Asger Ladefoged, Ritzau Scanpix)
Afterwards, Kim Knudsen realized how boundaryless the work culture as a prison guard had been for him and his colleagues.
āWe crossed the line if an inmate had been violent and threatening towards us. We knew exactly which line to cross,ā he says about the methods he and his colleagues used to stop prisoners from reacting so they could restrain them.
The boundary was broken by the means of force they had, he says. This included their baton and pepper spray.
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'That sounds extremely violent'
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Ina Eliasen cannot recognize the picture of the violent work culture that Kim Knudsen describes. She is director of Danmarks FƦngsler, formerly the Danish Prison and Probation Service, and hears about his descriptions of mutual violence for the first time today.
āI think it sounds extremely violent, and I also think it is extreme that no one in the system has heard about this,ā she says.
Ina Eliasen emphasizes that when they hear about similar cases, management intervenes massively.
āAlso with police reports against our employees if they commit violence against our inmates,ā she says.
Subcultures and negative environments have arisen in Danish prisons before, she says, but in recent years preventive efforts have been initiated.
Ina Eliasen has been director of Danmarks FƦngsler for six years; until last year it was called Kriminalforsorgen. (Photo: Ā© Oscar Scott Carl, Ritzau Scanpix)
In 2020, a study (https://www.vive.dk/da/udgivelser/psykiske-belastningsreaktioner-hos-polititjenestemaend-og-faengselsbetjente-dx3y53vb/) showed that 13.5 percent of Danish
āIt makes an incredibly strong impression to hear that he became so ill,ā says the director of Danmarks FƦngsler.
āI am really sorry that people became so ill from working in the Prison and Probation Service back then,ā she concludes.
Kim Knudsen adds that he is very pleased with Ina Eliasenās almost āapology.ā
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Psychologist: That doesnāt surprise me
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In the book, Kim Knudsen describes how he completely lost himself in his work. He experienced becoming his service number, 2748.
But how did Kim Knudsen end up committing the same violence as the inmates?
āIt doesnāt surprise me that such things can happen,ā says crisis psychologist Rikke HĆøgsted.
Also read: Overcrowding pressures prisons: 'A scandal for the government' (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/overbelaegning-presser-faengslerne-skandale-regeringen)
She emphasizes that he worked in an extremely violent unit.
āIf you have a job where there is a high degree of violence and threats, and you feel unsafe and threatened, you enter this survival mode, which means you simply cannot think clearly or make professional assessments,ā she explains.
At the same time, she highlights the very particular condition that prison guards work under: being locked in together with their inmates.
Rikke HĆøgsted says that with this work culture, one loses the ability for professional judgment and assessment.
āWhen we then step out of the risk zone and into safety, only then do we come into contact with our whole brain again and can feel our emotions. And then you can slowly begin to reflect on what happened while we were under pressure,ā she says.
You can hear more on P1 Morgen.
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