ABSTRACT
The system in the prisons is based on the principle of informing, which in turn makes it unnecessary for the authorities to fear the threat from a collective prisoners' opinion. The fire-technical point is of course only a substitute argument when lacking an objective reason for finding new methods to stress large parts of the prison population. The purpose of the Norwegian Personal Data Act is to protect natural persons from violation of their right to privacy through the processing of personal data. Furthermore, the act emphasizes that personal data must be processed in accordance with fundamental respect for the right to privacy; including the need to protect personal integrity and private life and ensure that personal data are of adequate quality. Prisoners are subjected to legitimate coercion and forced exclusion. Being imprisoned entails being 'forcibly removed from community and placed in a total environment from which there is no immediate escape'.
