Thesis advisor: Marius Stan / Architecture is frequently viewed as “frivolous” and is thus not considered a serious political issue that deserves attention and funding. However, this view is too reductionistic and is consequently misguided. In this paper, I argue that architecture has a significant impact on human life and therefore deserves more consideration in public policy, which I then apply to the issue of prison design. I also posit architectural guidelines based on Heidegger’s conception of dwelling, as well as on architecture’s ability to facilitate psychological comfort and moral improvement. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Philosophy.

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During the last decade, criminal justice and prison reform in the United States has been at the core of many social organizations, rallies and protests throughout the country. While most concerns aim for increased policing, legislative change and the reduction of incarceration rates altogether, the current living conditions for inmates prove to have a significant impact on their psychological wellbeing and ultimately rehabilitation. The experience of an inmate inside a prison appears to be only a small part of the wider issue, however. The U.S. currently holds the highest incarceration rates as well as the highest rate of re-offending in the world, creating a cycle that sustains high crime levels, lack of development opportunities and no coherent plan for a successful rehabilitation. This can be partially attributed to most inmates receiving poor preparation for the outside world, without incentivizing a return to a familiar environment. Together this creates a difficult barrier between the inmates and the general public. The experience while serving a sentence can drastically affect the potential of re-offending. The seclusive approach of most jails and prisons in the US creates an internal society that differs greatly from the society to which inmates are exposed after their sentence has been served. A disassociation and hostility from the general public towards convicts further stigmatizes any interaction between them and the prisoners who ultimately will rejoin that same public. While many of the challenges faced by inmates when re-introduced into the outside society can be alleviated by policy changes, also architecture has the potential to assist in the reform the internal experience of inmates. The hypothesis here proposes that the design of a prison should be closer to an analogy of the outside world in order to generate a greater familiarity with the structures of a society in which they ultimately will have to operate after rehabilitation. This project seeks to create a micro-urban condition within an urban prison through various architectural conditions. Home, neighborhood, city are ideological moments with architectural principles that form the basis of this design approach. The elongation of the typically short paths suggests a sense of commuting. A separation of functional spaces from living spaces, combined with spaces for integration where inmates and public can meet denotes the second major deviation from a typical prison program. While still a controlled environment, it more parallels the lives of the general public, an attempt to diminish the experiential boundaries faced by inmates when they are released. / Master of Architecture / Criminal justice and prison reform in the United States has been at the core of many social organizations, rallies and protests throughout the country. While most demands aim for increased policing, legislative change and the reduction of incarceration rates altogether, the current living conditions for inmates prove to have a significant impact on their psychological wellbeing and ultimately rehabilitation. The U.S. currently holds the highest incarceration rates as well as the highest rates of recidivism in the world, forming a cycle that maintains high crime levels with no coherent plan for successful rehabilitation. This can be partially attributed to most inmates receiving poor preparation for the outside world, experiencing hostility and unfamiliarity upon release. The seclusive approach of most jails and prisons in the US creates an internal society that differs greatly from the framework of our society. Disassociation and hostility from the general public towards convicts further stigmatizes any interaction between them and the prisoners.Many of these concerns could be adressed by policy changes, but architecture has the potential to reform the internal experience of inmates to assist their transition back into society . The hypothesis here proposes that the design of a prison should be closer to an analogy of the outside world in order to generate a greater familiarity with the structures of a society in which they ultimately will have to operate after rehabilitation. While still a controlled environment, it more parallels the lives of the general public, an attempt to diminish the experiential boundaries faced by inmates when they are released.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this thesis is to investigate the role architecture plays in both causing and ameliorating cycles of crime and punishment. To accomplish this task, the study combines an investigation of historical prison typologies, with an investigation into the philosophical and ethical questions surrounding the practice of imprisonment itself, as well as in depth sociological and criminological studies of the ways in which crime and incarceration affect the health of communities over time. It then employs the tools and conclusions of these studies to investigate the change over time in a singe community in North Memphis, Tennessee from its roots as a thriving, multi-racial industrial hub to a community defined by endemic crime, poverty, and violence and, finally, to suggest a way to improve the health of the community through the prison system itself. The study concludes that the prison system as it currently exists must undergo a fundamental philosophical and physical change in order to actually meet the goals of reducing crime and improving community health for which it was intended. To that end, the thesis suggests a vision of an incarceration facility for a single community in North Memphis that uses architecture as a vehicle to instrumentalize the key emotion that defines imprisonment -- how to escape from it -- in order to reconcile prisoners back to the communities they have offended.

This thesis presents the first empirical study into the accommodation needs of Australian Aboriginal prisoners in prison custody. The over-representation of Aboriginal people in the Australian prison system is increasing and the continuing deaths of Aboriginal peoples in prison custody by suicide are an important national issue. Previous prison studies have not addressed all of the issues surrounding this problem. Although the varying and differing accommodation needs of Aboriginal prisoners have been recognised since the 1800s, there is a limited understanding of the relationship between the prison environment and the rates of suicide among Aboriginal prisoners. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the issues and present findings which may contribute to the creation of prison environments which reduce stress levels, and may in turn decrease rates of suicide among Aboriginal prisoners. The research investigates the prison environment for the Aboriginal prisoner from a people-environments approach, locates the act of suicide among a series of behaviours which may occur in response to an environment incongruent with the needs of users. These responses are influenced by a complex of personal, environmental and institutional factors. Data for the research was gathered by studying five South Australian prisons and conducting a series of interviews with 55 male Aboriginal prisoners incarcerated within them. The prisons were documented using observations, interviews with staff and prisoners, photographic surveys and environmental walkthroughs. Both the accommodation standards, and the responsibility to provide those standards by the Department for Correctional Services (South Australia), are examined. The needs and preferences of the subject group were investigated using a three-stage interview process which included gathering personal and incarceration profiles, a forced choice experiment employing photographic sets and a number of drawing exercises to elicit design preferences. The results present a picture of the Aboriginal prison population in South Australia and their design needs. It shows that there are commonalities among the Aboriginal prisoner population in that they are relatively young, have relatively large numbers of children and are dependent on other family members for stability outside the prison environment. Aboriginal people display non-complaint and resistance behaviours and are consequently segregated at an alarming rate in South Australian prisons. The research identifies that prison environments in South Australia are often incongruent with the needs of Aboriginal prisoners. The thesis presents the argument for prison environments to move from being designed within philosophies of segregation and separation to recognising the importance of Aboriginal domiciliary practices, lifestyles structured around the social group and the need to maintain connections to country for all Aboriginal prisoners. The need for prison environments to take into account the identity and spirituality of Aboriginal prisoners is highlighted. The thesis yields further understandings on the design of prison environments for Aboriginal prisoners and will stimulate debate on incarcerating Aboriginal people in a Western tradition. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1330992 / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Architecture, 2008

This practicum explores potential for a new prison typology for federally sentenced women within Canada. The Koza Centre is an alternative to designs and practices currently in place that have the potential to create barriers to successful rehabilitation and reintegration. The primary intention of this work is to understand the issues and needs that are shared by many women who have come into conflict with the law and respond with an appropriate design. The methodology for this includes a brief history of women’s imprisonment in Canada and current political contexts, an analytical framework focused on overall well-being, and precedent studies. From this, programming and strategies have been developed that inform an evidence-based design. The result is a design focused on rehabilitation through the building of healthy relationships, ties to the community, programming that fosters successful reintegration, and supportive interior design that facilitates the well-being of those within the space. / February 2016