The Impact of architecture on the rehabilitation of prisoners

Abstract

The rehabilitation of the individual - the universally accepted goal of modern penology - constitutes the basis on which correctional programmes are conceived. As in any evolutionary process, these correctional programmes are not only continually changing, but changing along varying lines in different parts of the world. This reflect the particular type of society, and the inherited background which affects the legal and penal system. Rising populations have traditionally led to increasing need for prisons. None the less, it is to be hoped that the number of these walled institutions will eventually decrease, for this is one of the objectives of sound preventive and correctional policy. If, through improvements in human adjustment, education, greater understanding of human problems, and the like, something can be done to reduce the rate of criminality in society, as well as to solve some of the many problems involved in the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders, many of the walled institutions now used for the confinement of offenders can be abandoned. Prisons are inherently wasteful, and the expense of duplicating many of the facilities of the free environment behind a fence or wall is great. Under present conditions, however, institutions for the confinement of offenders are required. The nature of the judicial process, the requirements of public security, the diverse programmes for the treatment of offenders themselves, and other such considerations make inevitable the construction of institutions. But the institution itself must be conceived in terms of the ultimate objective, which is the rehabilitation of the confined inmate; and experience has shown that the effectiveness of a rehabilitation programme is greatly assited when the spirit and goal of the programme are reflected in the design of the institution. It is important that, even in a maximum security institution, the symbols of defeat and confinement should be reduced to a minimum while maintaining the necessary degree of control. The planning of buildings for correctional and detention purposes presents, therefore, very specialized problems in architectural design. The architect has to reconcile the basic problems of ease of supervision of the inmates, thier security and control, with those of the usual architectural problems of function, circulation, ventilation and orientation, while at the same time he has to ensure that the building itself will reflect a spirit of enlightenment and humanitarianism which can contribute to the effectiveness of treatment programmes for the inmates. They are examples of how institutions may be designed and constructed so as to preserve the paramount objectives of supervision,security and control, while avoiding the traditional grimness of the older institutions.