Alcatraz
photo by Watkins
Prison in Austria
Photo by Josef Hohensinn
Front View
Photo by Josef Hohensinn
Crowded Calif. State Prison L.A.
Photo by Rich Pedroncelli
Overcrowded Prisons
As you can see in this picture, it is extremelly overcrowded which causes tension between the inmates. This leads to violence to other inmates or prison employees.
ABSTRACT
The prison designs you primarily see before the 1970’s, were windowless cells of minimal size that only held one inmate, for there were no group cells. The cells themselves were stacked high on top of each other, getting up to six tiers. These cells overlooked the high ceiling common area, to where the correctional officers only way to observe the inmates activities was by looking up or walking down the tiers. This type of design was not made for safety, but convenience, whether it was because of building time or cost of building materials. Inmates could easily throw weapons at other inmates or correctional officers down below, seriously injuring them.
The purpose of this paper is to determine how to improve prison safety for inmates, prison employees, and civilians through better design. The cells themselves are a huge part of safety design, through hiding contraband or making home made weapons from items they have or building materials from the prison cell materials, all aspects of the cell must be considered. Inmates can cut through the cell bars in a couple of days with homemade saws, giving them a chance to escape. Designers also have different views on how the prison cells should be designed, whether all cells hold only one inmate or more. A portion of inmate deaths that occur in the prisons happen in their cells that they share with another inmate. There are problems with designing cells for only one inmate, for almost every prison is over populated.
The site location of a prison can also coincide with the neighborhood reactions. There is a lot of concern from people when prisons are located too close to their neighborhoods. They want to feel safe, in case of an escape. Having prisons designed and located in more isolated areas would decrease these concerns.
The inmates and prison employees should have a great impact on prison design. The prison employees should feel as safe as possible from the inmates, and also inmates should feel safe from one another. There should not be designs with stairwells and other areas that are not as easily accessed and that obscure the views from the prison employees. A majority of criminal activity in prisons happens in these areas where it is not as easy to be seen. Whether it is an inmate attacking another inmate or correctional officer, and/or conducting weapon and drug trafficking, a proper prison design can efficiently minimize this criminal activity.
There are many negative physiological effects that can be avoided with good design. When a prison is of poor design, inmates can have a lower sense of well being. The human relationships that they do have can become strained and they can become violent towards other inmates or prison employees. Prison Designs should have a more “positive” feeling to them, so inmates and prison employees will have less tension in their surroundings.
In future design, cells should be minimal maintenance with a maximum standard in safety. Fixtures, bunks, and shelving should be made of stainless steel with all round edges. This would stop inmates from hurting themselves or making weapons. Having the walls covered in sheets of Teflon, making it impossible to breach, with cameras and motion detectors located behind the prison cells would also increase safety. The doors could be made of bullet-proof glass that latches into the wall with only a slot opening. This will enable prison employees to watch the activities of the inmates carefully and to keep themselves safe.
This paper should offer a valuable approach to prison design and the important issues that are involved. These issues play a major role in designing prisons and show the impact they have in safety of inmates, prison employees and civilians. There should be more emphasis on safety rather than the convenience or cost in building of a prison, for in the end, the most safe prison will end up having more positive physiological effects for everyone.
