Rethinking America's prisons is cheaper than rethinking incarceration

Kartik Agaram

Jun 15, 2009

Rethinking America's prisons is cheaper than rethinking incarceration

We punish people with architecture. The building is the method.

New prison construction is parceled out to a handful of large and anonymous firms, discouraging innovation.

American prisons are built in the countryside. Rural prisons need no public face. It need articulate no sense of communal pride or civic justice.

Convicts tend to come from cities; guards do not. Culture clashes inevitably arise.

Convicts tend to come from cities; their families often can't afford to travel to visit. Rehabilitation becomes difficult.

Guards serve "lifetime sentences 8 hours at a time." Guards and prisoners often want the same improvements.

Prisons that look pleasing suffer less vandalism.
— Jim Lewis

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