According to a news report:

The Norwegian prison where Anders Behring Breivik may be locked up for massacring 77 people last year will hire people with whom he can socialise, to keep him away from other inmates, media reported Thursday.

If jailed, Breivik could not have normal contacts inside the prison due to the risk of a hostage situation, Ila prison director Knut Bjarkeid told the Verdens Gang (VG) daily.

— AFP, “Prison to Hire Person to Hang Out with Breivik”, Yahoo News, May 31, 2012

The authorities feel that being in isolation could be harmful to Breivik:

“That makes it impossible to allow normal contact with others,” he added. To avoid keeping the confessed killer in total isolation, the high security prison, northwest of Oslo, could let him play sports with the guards and hire someone to play chess with him, among other things, he added.

“We are planning a professional community around him, with employees and hired personnel,” he told the paper.

Bjarkeid did not say how much the measures would cost. — Ibid.

But why the concern about isolating Breivik?

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

Is it possible that Breivik — here, as always, identified as a “right-wing extremist” — is non compos mentis?

Breivik has confessed to the twin attacks [killing 77 people, 69 of them teenagers] but has refused to plead guilty, insisting they were “cruel but necessary” to stop the ruling Labour Party’s “multicultural experiment” and the “Muslim invasion” of Norway and Europe.

While he has been charged with committing acts of terror, the focal point of his ongoing trial is to determine the question of his sanity. That in turn will decide whether he will be sent to prison or a closed psychiatric ward.

A first court-ordered psychiatric evaluation conducted last year said Breivik was psychotic, suffering from “paranoid schizophrenia” and therefore not responsible for his actions. A second opinion however concluded that Breivik was sane enough to be held responsible.

If found of sound mind when the five Oslo district court judges hand down their verdict in July, he will likely face Norway’s maximum 21-year prison sentence. That term can be extended for as long as he is considered a threat to society. — Ibid.

An equally pertinent question is whether Norwegian law can be “considered a threat to society.”