Prison Design: Our assumptions drive our decisions

Students designing prison spaces
Students designing prison spaces

Day One

The assumptions we make about how to help prisoners drive the design of prisons.

Historically the four models of helping prisoners – the moral model, the compensatory model, the medical model, and the enlightenment model – have informed the treatment of prisoners.

Spaces in minimum security prisons, e.g., cafeterias, individual living spaces, therapy spaces, recreational spaces, were designed in keeping with each of the four models. The designs became a platform for the consideration of the role of hope in rehabilitation.

Today, students viewed a documentary and a movie about prison life while working on friendship bracelets to sell to benefit a NJ books-to-prison foundation..

2014 Experiences, Environmental Psych: Prison Design