Norway’s Health Directorate ordered on Wednesday construction of a separate psychiatric ward inside Oslo's Ila prison specially for self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik if he is found to be insane, Norwegian Aftenposten daily reported on Thursday.
According to the paper, the maximum-security ward will include a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom and gym. The prison authorities will also have a nurse on duty round the clock, a guard working at the ward in a daytime and three night guards.
Breivik, 33, has confessed to murdering 69 people at a youth summer camp on Utoeya Island and eight in a bomb attack in Oslo on July 22, 2011, but pleaded innocent to terror charges, saying he was defending Norway from multiculturalism and immigration.
The key issue that is due to be resolved during the ten-week trial against Breivik, which began on April 16, is his mental state. The gunman will spend the rest of his life in the psychiatric ward if recognized as mentally ill. If the court finds him sane, Breivik will receive a maximum of 21 years in prison.
The 33-year-old Norwegian insists he is mentally healthy, saying that he would do "anything to prevent" committal to a psychiatric hospital.
