Design Considerations in the Building of Women's Prisons

摘要

This document presents issues specific to the design of a correctional facility for women. As the number of women inmates grows, the inadequacy of existing institutions for them has become a more pressing issue. There is a strong temptation to build facilities that duplicate men's prototype facilities because such construction can be accomplished relatively quickly and economically. As one expert interviewed for this study put it, 'There's a tendency to build male facilities without urinals and call them female facilities. That's not enough.' If the experience of incarceration is to mean anything more than punishment and incapacitation, both the facilities and the activities that go on within them must respond to those who will use them--the inmates. The need to be responsive to the inmates' needs is especially important with women's institutions and must be reflected in the management techniques and programming chosen for a women's facility, as well as in the facility's design and features. Women offenders' roles as parents, their histories of abuse, their involvement with crime because of distorted perceptions of their relations with men, their low skill and education levels, and poor work histories--all these characteristics need to be addressed programmatically. The physical design of the facility will support, not contradict, these programs and encourage the practice of skills taught in them: self-sufficiency, improved relationships, and responsible behavior. The physical environment can and does influence behavior by imposing its own set of expectations and limitations. The discussion in this document is not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, its purpose is to identify pertinent design issues and heighten the awareness of correctional administrators who are contemplating the construction of a free-standing women's prison. It does not attempt to address the positives and negatives of co-correctional facilities or the effects of co-joining a women's and men's facility.