Creative Prison

Seeing as we’re on the cusp of another major election in the US, it’s likely that we’ll at least here a few words about our prison system. No surprise, it’s in pretty dire shape. Which ever side of the chicken or egg debate you subscribe to, more rehabilition or more alternatives to folks falling into the system in the first place…some attempts are being undertaken to look at the facilities themselves from a new perspective. For a little context of what the inmate population looks like, have a look at this graph courtesy of the Justice Department. It shows that the proportion of those convicted in Federal court who are sentenced to prison has been increasing. Pretty clear trend.

So what is the best way, once convicted to keep these folks from returning? It may be a version of the Creative Prisons project.

The Creative Prisons project, by architect Will Alsop with artists
Shona Illingworth and Jon Ford and led by the radical arts organisation
Rideout Creative Arts for Rehabilitations, aims to debate and challenge
attitudes to current prisoner rehabilitiation. The collaboration
examines how the design of prisons informs their effectiveness and
involved a unique collaboration with prison staff and with inmates
serving life sentences at at HMP Gartree, Leicestershire.

HMP Paterson, a concept prison, is the result of this collaboration.
The architectural design has inmates living in blocks of twelve, each
with a communal kitchen, common room and an enclosed garden. Around the
perimeter of the prison is a wall that houses many of its essential
elements.

The majority of our prisions were built for an earlier idea of criminal
justice in which punishment was everything. This design highlights ways
that architecture can improve safety, increase social interaction and
house training and education activity.

I don’t know, these look better than the new trendy condo’s going up in Williamsburg.