Prison to Hire Chess Player to Keep Mass Murderer Breivik Busy

This is not your typical chess news. However, one that makes you think about the potential of man's mind and - like fire - how it could work either way: for good, or bad. A news report from the Norwegian prison where killer Anders Behring Breivik could be kept is considering hiring professionals to 'socialise' with him and keep him separated from other inmates. These professionals would include a chess player to play with Breivik! It is understood that Breivik could not possibly have normal contact with other jail inmates and might create a hostage situation, according to Ila prison director Knut Bjarkeid. Bjarkeid spoke at length to Verdens Gang newspaper about the preparations.



Norwegian law forbids keeping prisoners in total isolation for long periods of time because it is considered unduly cruel.


On July 22, 2011, the right-wing extremist bombed a government building in Oslo, killing eight people, before going on a shooting rampage on the nearby island of Utoya, where the ruling Labour Party's youth wing was hosting a summer camp. He killed 69 people on the island, most of them teenagers.

Breivik has confessed to the attacks but has refused to plead guilty, insisting they were "cruel but necessary" actions to stop the Labour Party's "multicultural experiment" and the "Muslim invasion" of Norway and Europe. While he has been charged with acts of terror, the focal point of his ongoing trial is to determine the question of his sanity.

A first psychiatric evaluation conducted last year said Breivik was psychotic, suffering from "paranoid schizophrenia" and therefore not responsible for his actions. But a second opinion said he was sane enough to be held responsible.

Posted in: Anders Behring Breivik,chess player