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The Norwegian convicted of the massacre of 77 people last year has said he is being held in "inhumane" conditions.

Anders Behring Breivik complained in a letter to the prison service that his coffee is served cold, he does not have enough butter for his bread, and he is not allowed moisturiser.

Breivik is serving a minimum 21-year sentence for the bombings and shootings in Oslo and Utoeya island last July.

The Norwegian authorities have not commented on the letter.

However his lawyer has confirmed that the details of the 27-page document leaked to Norway's VG newspaper are authentic.

Breivik is being held in almost complete isolation - 23 hours a day, he says - at Ila prison outside Oslo.

His cell includes three sections, one to sleep, one for study and a third for exercise - each measuring 8 sq m (86 sq ft).

In the letter, he complains that the cell is poorly decorated and has no view.

"I highly doubt that there are worse detention facilities in Norway," he writes.

'Too cold'

Among his other complaints are:

* the handcuffs he wears when being moved around the prison "are too sharp and "cut in his wrist"
* the cell is too cold, forcing him to wear three layers of clothes
* he has to rush his morning shave and brushing of teeth
* light and television switches are outside the cell, so he has to ask for help to change channel or sleep.

Ila is an all-male institution which "houses some of the country's most dangerous men", its website says.

However it differs markedly from other maximum security jails in western Europe. The staff is a half-and-half mix of men and women and none are armed.

Breivik massacred 77 people, most of them teenagers at a youth camp run by Norway's governing Labour Party.

His 21-year sentence can be indefinitely extended for as long as he is considered a danger to society.

Fuck, the Canadians would have roughed him up possibly and they're the nicest people on my continent.

The Prison
"Looking at the internal environment I seriously doubt there's a worse penal facility in Norway, than the Basement of Ila prison, and I view being there as an additional punishment."

The Cell
"The solitary cell that I am in is, as I said, stripped for furniture and has white walls that I'm not allowed to decorate. This worn cell from the 60s/70s is in the infamous cellblock that's nicknamed 'The Basement', where the only view you have is a prison wall that, with its nine meter height, blocks out everything except for the tops of a few trees."

Correspondence
In his letter of complaint Breivik claims that only letters from "new-testament Christians and other people who don't like me" has gotten through censorship since the 8th of August. A short time before the central administration of the Correctional Services issued a memorandum to ensure that Breivik would not be able to control a criminal network from his cell.

Lack of daylight
"As you know the windows have a dark foil applied to them, which reduses the available sunlight with around 60 percent. As a result of this I'm forced to take vitamin supplements to prevent Vitamin D deficiencies among other things."

Being unable to control the lighting
"That the light- and TV- switch is outside the cell means that I have to call the prison officers through the intercom system for this (...) On several occasions when I was going to bed I've been forced to wait for up to 40 minutes before they've come to hand over my toothbrush and turn off the light.

The pen is bad
Breivik claims that the rubber pen he was issued doesn't work for him. Using this pen he can only write around 10-15 words a minute. IT is also not very ergonomic, and according to the mass murderer it makes his hand hurt after using it for only a short while. "If it'd been theoretically possible to develop rheumatism, then I'm sure this rubber pen would have done the job."

Lack of common courtesy among the prisoners
Breivik has four times complained that another prisoner in the solitary block at Ila has provoked him by increasing the volume of his stereo system. Breivik also complains about being scolded by the prison officers, as well as screaming from fellow prisoners. "I want peace and quiet. I want to be left alone."

No thermos-bottle for his coffee
The terrorist is not allowed a thermo-bottle in his cell, according to the letter this means that he's forced to drink cold coffee 80 percent of the time.

Collection of cardboard plates and plastic utensils
He describes the way the prison officers collect his cardboard plates and plastic utensils is a form of "low-intensity psychological terror", because he feels it requires him to hurry to finish eating and drinking.

Moisturizer problem
He reacts to not being allowed to have a container of moisturizer in his room, but instead he's issued a plastic cup filled with cream. This means that much of the cream will be ruined during the day.

Gets too little butter
The terrorist complains that at times he only gets enough butter for 2-3 of the 4 slices of bread he eats. "This creates unnecessary irritation because you ... either have to eat dry slices of bread or be made to have a bad conscience about asking for more."

Bad TV
The mass murderer is upset that the TV has a very poor image and an echo to the sound, because it's locked up in a security closet made from steel and Plexiglas. Furthermore he's upset that his radio will only get channel P1 and channel P3.

Clothing
"Since it is often quite cool in my living cell I usually wear a thick jacket / sweater at any given time (...) There are regularly problems when I ask for one of these garments. For some reason they often bring me a Lacoste sweater of the sort I use for special occasions. Despite the fact that I've pointed out several times that I don't want one of those, since they are quite valuable and should be spared a high degree of wear (...) I have therefore on several occasions wound up spending 1-2 days freezing until I manage to 'nag' my way into getting a prison officer to go into the storage area and fetch one of the correct jacket-sweaters."

Handcuffs
"To be handcuffed is offensive and creates a mental strain. National guidelines for SHS requires me to be handcuffed before I'm moved to other rooms / the exercise area and/or before the prison officers open the cell door. During the last 14 months I've been subjected to handcuffing on average of five times a day – a total of more than 2000 occasions." The murderer who killed 77 and maimed many other for life says that he has six times has suffered "friction cuts where the steel edge on the inside of the handcuffs has ripped the skin on my wrists in a very painful way." This has led him to develop a fear of handcuffs.

Strip searches
"The number of daily strip searches was reduced from January on, but even today it sometimes happens that I'm subjected to this twice a day. A strip search involves me being made to take off all my clothes, after which each garment is carefully examined." He describes in detail how such searches are conducted. "This is something I dread every day."

Feeling watched
"The two cameras and the peephole in the door leads to a constant feeling of tension and of being watched (...) On occasion I am subjected to one of the daily 30-40 door hatch checks at the precise moment that I'm using the toilet, something which leads to a particularly great psychological strain. At times this can be experienced as a mental shock, especially if the hatch is slammed a the same time."

Controls
"There is a hatch check every 30-60 minutes – 24 hours a day. AT night I occasionally wake up from having a flashlight shone into my face. It has also happened that they have woken me up if I've been sleeping without moving. It is known that they are not doing this for sadistic reasons, but to make sure that the prisoner hasn't committed suicide."

Cell searches
Require him to rearrange his documents as they are occasionally brought into disarray. Breivik is also upset that he has to make his bed again after these searches.

Being moved
In the letter Breivik expresses great frustration that he is apparently made to wait overlong to be moved to his training-cell, the study cell, or the outdoors area. He says that since 15 October he has stopped using the study cell. "The reason is that I feel the price I have to pay to use this offer is too high, as a daily struggle has to be fought to gain access to the cell for a full workday."

Denied art and a view
"The solitary cell in which I live is, as I said, stripped of furniture and with white walls that may not be decorated. One is therefore denied the inspiration and mental energy that art and a view can give you."

Disturbed by prison wide messages
Breivik asks to be exempt from receiving prison wide messages on the intercom, as "this is viewed as very irritating and at times an interruption."

Money
"The requirement for my daily 'work money' allowance being raised from $7.2 / £4.5 a day to $10.25 / £6.5 a day from 1 October onwards was that in addition to studying, I would also wash the three cells that I use. In Skien prison I was given a mop with handle. In Ila on the other hand the only thing I'm given is the mop itself, despite for my verbal complaints about this. I am in other words forced to scrub all three cells on my knees, something I view as degrading.

SirNitram wrote:I actually enjoy these. They are the bitter tears of an evil man, his pains and psychological stress a tiny but constant recompense for his crimes. I enjoy hearing of his 'suffering'. And I can't wait until oblivion claims his worthless soul.

General Havoc wrote:Is there a problem with inmate murder in Norway?

General Havoc wrote:If not, can there be one?

Norseman wrote:There's a reason he's in isolation; several fairly dangerous gangs have said they'd kill him if they get a chance. That is quite unusual in Norway. This guy managed to get the Banditos and Hells Angels motorcycle gangs to do a joint ride. Even the two big immigrant gangs (big with Thais and Vietnamese) have threatened to kill him. There's even a rumour that there's a prize on his head.

General Havoc wrote:Is there a problem with inmate murder in Norway?

If not, can there be one?