Danes wary of muscular inmates

Some inmates are "bodybuilding to death" guards say

Police officers and prison guards in Denmark are calling for prison gyms to be closed down.

They say some inmates use the gyms to become stronger to attack staff and threaten people when they are released.

The head of the Danish prison guards' union said it was unacceptable that men should be allowed to build themselves into monsters while in jail.

He was supported by a police chief, who said state facilities should not turn criminals into even greater threats.

"It is worrying that certain criminals leave prison even more muscular than they were when they went in," Berlingske Tidende newspaper quoted the police commissioner as saying.

'Madness'

The head of the prison guards' union, Carsten Pedersen, said: "We should not let these monstrous men develop within the penitentiary system."

"It's pure madness that a number of prisoners are entitled to work out with weights of up to 50 kilos (110 pounds)."

Mr Pedersen said he was "convinced that this intense bodybuilding by prisoners was behind the sharp rise in the number of violent and threatening incidents against prison staff."

About 300 inmates - especially those who belong to motorcycle gangs - "bodybuild to death" in Denmark's 15 prisons, he added.