Questioning industry norms in correctional facility design

For centuries, correctional architecture in the U.S. has followed a pattern of structure, geometry, and configuration driven in part by the belief that isolation and hard work will remedy criminal behavior.

By Meg Bower July 17, 2019

For centuries, correctional architecture in the U.S. has followed a pattern of structure, geometry, and configuration driven in part by the belief that isolation and hard work will remedy criminal behavior–a philosophy that dates back to the early days of the U.S. A vast infrastructure of prisons and jails exist around the country that were designed to control behavior and limit personal choice as an extension of this philosophy.

Studies of human behavior, economics, and recidivism have revealed that although the fear of being jailed may prevent some individuals from committing some crimes, incarceration alone as a punishment does not deter future crime. Furthermore, the unintended consequences of incarcerating one person can impact layers of friends and family members, until families, entire zip codes, even racial groups, are adversely affected. The direct and indirect costs of incarceration affect all of us, from our tax rates to the quality of the community structure in which we live.

Our NCDS master plan re-examined allocation and utilization of facilities statewide, both in terms of core capacity and housing capacity, with an emphasis on maximum re-use of existing facilities. Photo courtesy: Dewberry[/caption]

Our justice team has been challenged with this issue for nearly a decade, stretching the configuration of special treatment units closer and closer to “normal” as a means to improving the human condition. We are pushing into new territory with our approach to correctional design by asking tough questions about why prisons and jails look the way they do, and probing more effective alternatives for the future.


This article originally appeared on Dewberry’s blog. Dewberry is a CFE Media content partner. 

Original content can be found at www.dewberry.com.