The number seems to come from Wikipedia[1]:

Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment serve an average of 16 years, more for cases considered to be particularly grave. The only example in modern times of an individual serving significantly more than 16 years in prison is Palle Sørensen, who served 33 years for a quadruple police murder.

So I guess it's a parole, then (which cannot happen until 12 years into the sentence).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Denmark

>served 33 years for a quadruple police murder.

>Despite being a peaceful prisoner, he was considered the most dangerous convict in Denmark for many years, and police unions pressured the authorities to grant him neither parole nor pardon.

In Scandinavia cops get their own separate justice system too.

If you know someone murdered 4 people, does them being on good behavior in front of you really make you consider them peaceful?

Compared to the other murderers? I don't see why not.

The averages very strongly suggest that he spent an unusually long time in prison because he killed cops, of course I may be missing out on some key details here.

"I always kept my cell neat, and they never called me Palle the Clean. I always kept out of fights, and they never called me Palle the Peaceful.. But you murder four police ONE TIME..."

That page doesn't have a single source, which is very strange. Normally when I read Wikipedia, I see [citation needed] flags everywhere.

The first one. Life sentence is open-ended which means he could in principle remain in prison for the rest of his life. But usually they are pardoned before this, so the 16 years is the average sentence in reality. But this does not mean he can expect to be pardonned after 16 years - this very much depends on the individual case.

From the BBC coverage:

> Danish inventor Peter Madsen has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall on his submarine.

So I'm not sure he will be paroled after ~16 years?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43894495

The Wikipedia page posted in a sister comment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Denmark says (emphasis mine): "In Denmark, a life sentence (Livsvarigt fængsel in Danish) theoretically means life without parole: that prisoners will spend the rest of their lives in prison. However, prisoners are entitled to a pardoning hearing after 12 years, and [...] the Danish King or Queen may grant a pardon, subject to a 5-year probationary period."

So no parole but a pardon.

Is "pardon" really the best translation for "prøveløsladelse"? I think "parole" is more appropriate.

The queen can grant a pardon, but that is separate from the parole hearings. Pardon means the convicted is absolved of the crime, parole just means the convicted is released before time. Or do I have it backwards?

I don't know, Wikipedia might not be using the correct words. But if a life sentence is really always "without parole", then there cannot be parole hearings as such. Maybe "probation" would be another term that goes in the right direction...

Life sentences are all officially without parole, but have pardoning hearings after twelve years.

There is no such thing a life without parole in Denmark. He will be eligible for parole after 12 years, but no guarantee he will actually get it.

"Life" is completely devoid of meaning then.

True, if you get a life sentence in Denmark you will most like be free quicker than someone getting fixed sentence for somewhere between 12 - 18 years.

It should be noted that that if you kill a police office and get a life sentence, the you will stay in prison for a VERY long time.

That is not true. If you get 12 to 18 years, you can get parole after 6 to 9 years. The earlies you can get out with a life sentence is 12 years.

Police officers > Citizens

Well no, that's not really the point, at least in Denmark. A murder is a murder regardless of the victim, but the murder/attack on a police officer is an attack on the state (The police being the organisation through which the government exercises power, in some areas).

What happens if one hits a flower pot on the balcony with their elbow and it falls on a police officer's head... attack on the state or not?

That's hardly a murder, no?