Prison seeks 'friends' to play with mass killer Breivik

Heiko Junge / NTB Scanpix via Reuters

Anders Behring Breivik, left, sits next to his lawyer Tord Jordet during his trial in a courtroom in Oslo on Tuesday.

By Ian Johnston, msnbc.com

A Norwegian prison is looking to hire people to be friends with mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, according to reports.

Ila prison hopes to find people willing to play hockey, chess and otherwise interact with Breivik, who is on trial for massacring 77 people in a bomb attack in Oslo and a shooting at a summer camp for young people on Utoeya island in July last year.

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Citing Norway's Verdens Gang, the U.K.?s Telegraph newspaper reported that the "friends" would be trained experts as Breivik, 33, is feared to be too dangerous to mix with other prisoners.

"It could be anything from a team for indoor hockey to people who are willing to play chess with him," Knut Bjarkeid, director of the Ila prison said, according to the Telegraph's translation.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Oslo to sing a children's song calling for peace, as a protest against mass killer Anders Behring Breivik. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

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Bjarkeid said it was feared that Breivik might take other prisoners hostage in an attempt to escape if he was allowed near them. The killer is expected to serve at least 21 years in prison.

Under Norway's laws, prisoners cannot be kept in isolation for a long time as that is considered to be unduly cruel, the AFP news agency said.

"Many of the initiatives around Breivik are designed to prevent hostage-taking," Bjarkeid told Verdens Gang. "This makes it impossible to provide normal contact with others."

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Bjarkeid added while Breivik appeared calm in court, he was still a threat.?"He is a soldier in phase three of his own war. He still behaves exactly as he himself has described in his manifesto."

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