(In the case of Rikers, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio has endorsed a ten-year, $10.6 billion plan to radically reduce and redistribute the number of inmates to facilities around the city built or to be rehabbed using a new set of design guidelines based on Gallagher’s report.) In response, many firms working on prison design hire analysts to help nudge the conversation toward more sensitive solutions. Transferring inmates from cell to elevator to open space can take up to an hour, and the return can be just as long.ĭesign, of course, can solve many of these problems, but unfortunately, too often those who commission prisons-from counties to cities to states to the private prison industry-are more focused on cost, security, and expediency than humanity, never mind good design. Gallagher describes the intense choreography required to move inmates from their cells to Rikers’ roof for their daily 45 minutes of outside time (required by law). The typical interior color palette, meanwhile, is a study in sensory deprivation-just a few shades of monotonous, soul-crushing beige.īut while architects and psychologists have spent much time exploring better prison design, the reality is that incarcerating humans, protecting them from themselves and each other, and moving them around safely present a huge set of logistical challenges, says Dan Gallagher, a principal at the New York–based firm NADAAA, which won a grant from the nonprofit Van Alen Institute to help guide New York City through the closing of Rikers Island and the relocation of its facilities throughout the five boroughs.
#Epic prison architect prisons windows#
Windows are expensive, and their size and location often determine a facility’s weakest security points. But due to security and cost concerns, access to natural light is a luxury. There’s generally either too much or too little light-most of it fluorescent, and switched on 24/7-which scrambles everyone’s circadian rhythms. Interiors are detailed to withstand tremendous abuse, made with hard materials like concrete, linoleum, steel, and concrete block which mercilessly reflect the endless noise inside prisons, raising stress levels of both inmates and those who work with them. Facilities are usually built like fortresses-monoliths in rural locations ringed with razor wire and high walls. Some would argue that America’s prison problem is very much a design problem. Sentencing Commission study show America’s recidivism rates as the highest in the world, at about 60 percent.
And while more people are being incarcerated each year, they’re not coming out. provides room and board for 25 percent of the world’s total prison population, according to a report from the Prison Policy Initiative that’s 2.3 million people-the equivalent of the country’s fourth largest city, just behind Chicago. Regardless of the language we use, imprisonment has become a major industry that supports the finance, law, food service, and telecommunications industries, not to mention architects, designers, and contractors. There aren’t prisons anymore-only “correctional facilities” and “detention centers.” Looking for designers for your next jail? You’re tapping into the “justice” sector.
First, let’s recognize that when we talk about mass incarceration, we’re entering a euphemistic world.
0 kommentar(er)
