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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