Jail Design Guide

Abstract

This work is an updated version of the Small Jail Design Guide originally published in 1988. It updates and expands upon the original work, adding new and revised graphics. It removes dated references to standards and adds several new sections. The illustrative designs at the end of the original Small Jail Design Guide are not included in this edition. In reviewing the original document it was realized that many of the concepts discussed apply equally to most jails, including those regarded as medium size (100 to 200 beds). Thus, after appropriate editing, the document was renamed Jail Design Guide: A Resource for Small and Medium-Sized Jails. In 1985, Kimme Planning and Architecture (now Kimme & Associates, Inc.) compiled survey information on 255 jails of 50 beds or less ("small jails") that had been opened since 1974. In addition to survey information, on-site evaluations of 32 of those facilities were conducted to discuss and evaluate specific operational issues with administrators and staff. This work identified the nature of the facilities and what "worked" about them and what did not. The data revealed that many new facilities suffered from a variety of design flaws and operational problems. Certain design features were identified as driving factors in the general operational "success" or "failure" of new small jails as perceived by staff and others charged with the administration and funding of these facilities. Survey and site visit findings were reported in the Nature of New Small Jails: Report and Analysis released in 1985. In conducting the survey, the project team identified several key planning issues that were problematic and appeared to cause difficulties for many responding jurisdictions. A total of nine issues were analyzed in a separate NIC publication entitled Small Jud Special Issues released in 1986. Taken together, these two documents represented Phase One of the NIC grant project. The first edition of the Small Jail Design Guide represented the end-product of Phase Two of the project. Since numerous NIC-sponsored documents and training curricula had already explored the pre-design planning process, this document attempted to avoid duplicating those discussions. Rather, it sought to identify and describe those issues and architectural considerations that directly assist the development of an efficient, standards-compliant, and functionally effective design. In filling the void of design-oriented information available to small and medium-sized jails -- and jails in general -- the Jail Design Guide explores the broad operational questions that drive a jail design and the specific operational and design issues that must be addressed for each functional component (e.g., intakelrelease, food services, housing). Architectural responses to the issues are closely integrated with operational data as a way of illustrating the link between jail activities and physical space design.