NCJ Number
191603
Journal
Prison Review International Issue: 1 Dated: July 2001 Pages: 13-17
Date Published
July 2001
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article examines global prison design trends.
Abstract
Since the mid-1970's, the United States has spent more than $50 billion in constructing new prisons and jails. At the peak construction period in the 1980's, the country opened the equivalent of a new 500-bed prison every three days. The building activity was accompanied by new approaches in management, design, and construction. Some of the most notable innovations were unit management, therapeutic communities, direct supervision, modular housing units, electronic detection systems, modular cell construction, and high rise jails. Other nations have also experimented with changes in housing unit configurations and management styles. The United Kingdom has used three-level dayrooms that effectively reduce the size of the unit while maintaining an abundance of natural light and good sightlines in the dayroom. Canada has introduced a style of housing that combines residential-style rooms with a much smaller unit size. Innovations in perimeter security design have mostly been associated with electronic detection and surveillance systems, with various seismic devices the most often used systems. The article concludes that future government-developed prisons and jails are likely to be highly influenced by the building approaches introduced by private prison operators.