Guided leisure-time activities suitable for prison conditions are arranged in prisons and prisoners can also practise certain activities independently. Prisoners get to exercise outdoors normally at least one hour every day.

Most guided activities are some form of physical exercise. Spiritual events are also organised commonly. Interactive discussion groups include, among others, AA, NA and the Finnish Red Cross groups.

Open prisons in particular arrange group visits outside the prison, for instance, to a library, an indoor swimming pool, sports competitions, cultural events, spiritual gatherings and camps. The most popular of them are sports events and peer groups.

Prisoners can also engage in hobbies, crafts, studies and exercise independently. Prisons either have their own library of fictional and non-fictional literature or a mobile library visits the prison. Prisoners can also order books from the local public library. Furthermore, prisoners can follow television and radio programmes as well as newspapers.