By: AIF Staff
When former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan established the American Idea Foundation (AIF) in 2019, he did so to support localized, data-driven solutions focused on breaking the cycle of poverty and providing economic opportunities to struggling Americans.
This mission includes supporting organizations helping individuals successfully re-enter communities following periods of incarceration. With over 1.8 million individuals in America’s correctional system, innovative ideas focused on helping those in prison and leaving prison can have a massive impact on communities and families across the country.
As an example of the transformative impact of these programs, in 2022, AIF supported Gatekeepers in Hagerstown, Maryland as they scaled their Business of Living project.
Gatekeepers is often the first stop for individuals following their release from Maryland correctional facilities and they assist with everything from occupational and educational needs to personal and spiritual growth. This video speaks directly to their model of helping individuals successfully reacclimate and reintegrate into their communities.
Given the five-year rearrest rate of people exiting prison remains stubbornly high at 71%, there is a clear need to help individuals successfully reintegrate into society. This is one of the reasons that Speaker Ryan and AIF selected The Scandinavian Prison Project as a 2026 grant recipient.
Operating out of the State Correctional Institution (SCI) Chester in Pennsylvania, The Scandinavia Prison Project takes an innovative approach to recidivism reduction by promoting a model of rehabilitation and “humanity first” programming to individuals living in a prison setting.
Because Scandinavian countries take a deeply rehabilitative approach to incarceration, academics have noted a few shared characteristics that yield lower rates of recidivism compared to North American correctional systems: a small number of inmates per facility, highly educated correctional officers, high-quality health and education services, and humane living standards.
To emulate these results, American correctional officers and criminal justice leaders visited prisons in Norway and Sweden to see their model firsthand before creating a new housing unit, named Little Scandinavia, which opened to inmates in 2022.
The Little Scandinavia philosophy centers on the Nordic “principle of normality,” which dictates that life inside a correctional facility should mimic life on the outside as closely as possible. This meant physically altering the unit from what is traditionally found in American correctional facilities. Per Vital City, these changes included “single cells with specially built furniture, a full commercial kitchen (which is supported by a grocery program where residents can order fresh food from an outside supermarket), live plants and fish, sound-dampening infrastructure, a dedicated laundry space and common areas, intended to facilitate conversation.”
It also meant shifting the ratio of prisoners to guards from 1-to-128 to 3-to-64, capping the unit at 64 individual inmates to avoid overcrowding issues that plague other facilities. Additionally, correctional officers are trained to actively communicate, build supportive relationships with residents, and collaborate directly with them on comprehensive reentry pathways.
By creating a community within the prison walls, the program ensures that residents build the emotional, social, and economic skills necessary for long-term community reintegration. The core pillars of the unit include:
- Intensive Programming and Therapy: Offering cognitive behavioral therapy, intensive conflict resolution, and counseling to reshape behaviors.
- Community-Oriented Living: Access to a shared commercial kitchen and a cooperative grocery program where residents purchase fresh ingredients, cook together, and maintain their living space collectively.
- Skills and Workforce Training: Providing hands-on job training, vocational education, and financial literacy to ensure immediate employability upon release.
- Enhanced Environmental Climate: Designing common spaces with functional furniture, green spaces, and lower staff-to-resident ratios that eliminate baseline operational stress.
Ultimately, Little Scandinavia breaks down conventional institutional barriers and focuses on addressing the holistic needs of an individual within an environment built for personal reform and reduced recidivism.
Beyond the innovative approach, the Scandinavia Prison Project is appealing because evidence is embedded into its foundations as SCI Chester has worked closely with Drexel University to track and quantify the results of this program. The preliminary institutional metrics demonstrate promising outcomes:
- Reduction in Violence: Since its launch, Little Scandinavia has seen a dramatic reduction in physical altercations, demonstrating that a humane environment directly fosters prison safety.
- Drop in Misconduct: Total disciplinary infractions among Little Scandinavia inmates dropped sharply when compared to matching general population control tiers.
- Improved Staff Well-Being: Evaluations reveal a decline in occupational burnout and stress among corrections officers, alongside a boost in job satisfaction.
Additionally, internal data shows an increase in the number of hours residents spend daily participating in productive work, vocational training, or group therapy.
Because of this early success, Drexel University has started a randomized controlled trial to study the impact of this approach to inmate housing relative to traditional settings. Funds provided by AIF will be used to continue tracking inmates across SCI Chester and other facilities as the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections expands the Little Scandinavia model to 6 sites across the state.
This innovative approach shows how America can reduce recidivism and help incarcerated individuals successfully rejoin communities. As Speaker Ryan, who successfully advanced legislative reforms to our criminal justice system, said when President Trump signed the First Step Act:
“Redemption is at the heart of the American Idea, and that’s what this [legislation] is about. Creating a smoother path for those who have been incarcerated to successfully reenter and contribute to society is a worthwhile goal and one we have long been working toward.”
By intervening during incarceration and lowering rates of re-offending, Little Scandinavia can help America avoid the public expenditures associated with chronic re-incarceration. Simultaneously, this approach has the potential to strengthen local workforces by transitioning former inmates into tax-paying, skilled employees while protecting the health and safety of correctional officers.
Through a combination of community compassion and rigorous empirical validation, Little Scandinavia is proving that we can restore safety to our prisons, lower crime in our neighborhoods, and break the cycle of poverty for good. The American Idea Foundation is proud to partner with them.
To learn more about the American Idea Foundation’s 2026 grant recipients and our commitment to funding data-driven poverty solutions, click here.