Breaking Bars: Rehabilitation in prisons

Abstract

According a common perception residential, legislative, commercial and institutional building typologies are given importance to put architectural thoughts into them while on the other hand buildings whose users are discarded and segregated from the society are given no significance. Architects should try to encourage prison design that facilitates rehabilitation rather than emphasizing punishment. It will not only imprint effective and positive marks on personalities of prisoners but also noble figures in society would increase. It would be a fine way of giving them opportunity to integrate back into the society rather than alienating them. • Prison architecture is part of the punishment regime. The effects of the indoor environment on the inmates and their physical and psychological comfort are not considered. Modern concepts of penal theories emphasize the rehabilitation of the prisoners. It is believed that the contemporary institutions should focus more on the effect of the building environment on the individual. Consequently, the contemporary design of prison buildings is to foster a more positive environment. This is mediated by the creation of an environment that is "proactive rather than reactive". A positive and healthy environment is essential for the inmates' rehabilitation. In order to achieve this goal, comfort is a main concern. The question of comfort in prisons is complex. • Architecture is one of the most powerful tool dealing with confined users using interior spaces and spatial planning for helping them psychologically, using environment for the treatment but nowadays the shift is more towards medicine treatment cures. If asylum architecture is integrally linked to the career trajectories of asylum-keepers and superintendents, it would also encompass the limit of environmental experience of its numerous and often long-term inmates. The interaction of the interior spaces effects the inmates even after release. The psychological needs are to be incorporated through design while for sociological requirement; spaces should be created that facilitate the local stake holders in creating sense of "place" in the space. It can cause a current transformation in society, and betterment can prevail not only in individual level but also on a larger scale.