Designing A Modern Prison - Literally

Hello everybody!

To be honest if you asked me to vote for or against prisons as they operate within the system nowadays and in the past i would vote against even though there are supposed to be improvements...

Anyway i will not be the judge on the subject but you can freely express your opinions.

I was asked recently how i would design a modern prison to be both safe in keeping the inmates inside as well as providing for all necessary services to the inmates and the staff.

Services is a key word here (...along with safe.)

I had a look around the web but i could not find any guidelines.
I either missed it or was not very good at researching the matter.

So i ended up making a thread for building the ultimate prison in all aspects of the word ultimate.

Here is a chance for everybody to contribute in prison evolvement.
The person i was asked by has a project on designing a prison for college - final year, so i guess if this thread has something to contribute i will transfer it and who knows maybe our insight will be transferred to real world practice since its an institutional (college) project.


[Edit by op for caps in tittle (sorry...)]

[edit on 8/4/2009 by GEORGETHEGREEK]

wow!
A few days have gone by now and no response!

I guess the inmates do not reserve any more comforts than they already do, neither legal citizens need safety from those escaping.
As such probably various states do not need any more efficient and cost effective prison space although prisons are over populated...

GOT IT!

Man designing a prison is tough work. Designing any building designed for multiple uses is really tough. People do not realize everything you have to take into consideration. And anyone who starts such a project has to be familiar with building codes, architectural conventions, structural engineering, electricity, plumbing, and civil engineering. There is much more I am overlooking here to be sure.

My point is that prison design is probably best left to the pros.

corrections.oregonafscme.com...

This is the prison of the future. No further designing necessary.

The problem I see is prisons don’t need to evolve, they need to devolve. Prisoners already have too many creature comforts. I read or heard somewhere it costs $45K/year just to house one inmate. Wow, that’s an outrageous amount.

I’m all for the most basic of facilities. No air conditioning, air flow yes, but not temperature control. You know, kind of like we troops had in the desert. As for security. That’s the easy part. Fit each prisoner with a collar containing explosives and if they get beyond say 50 feet of the prison then BAM!!

Let them internally riot if they want. Just lock the entire prison down and shut off the air. That should calm them down.

Oh, and the bleeding heart ACLU can bite my right wing @ss.

reply to post by groingrinder


I know i know but sometimes a student has to do whats to do.

Besides how do you thing all codes are made up?

RESEARCH.

This thread is a leg helping in a students research.

I acknowledge the difficulty and that's why i set to assist i getting some views.

reply to post by cautiouslypessimistic


Thanks!
I will have a read.

reply to post by ratcals


I cannot say i am completely against your views just as long as human rights are respected. I guess dear old simplicity is to be taken into account for some areas.

I read or heard somewhere it costs $45K/year just to house one inmate. Wow, that’s an outrageous amount.

Text

How sure are you about this statement? Its sounds ridiculous to me too!

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK


I can't find an actual source on line. It was something I heard on the radio I think. The closest I can find is from the DOC page citing ~$23K per year on average. I don't know how much it would be today though.

Maine $44,379
Rhode Island 38,503
Massachusetts 37,718
Minnesota 36,836
New York 36,835

Here is a link to the DOC page: Department of Corrections

Based on several years of doing cost reporting for a nursing home chain (please, no jokes about possible similarities to prisons!), I'd wager that those $40,000+ figures for the cost of holding an inmate for one year have a lot more to them than the cost of his or her uniforms, meals, and the cable TV bill. It probably includes a pro-ration of the physical plant's maintenance cost (You have to keep the prison buildings cleaned and repaired), a pro-ration of the staffing and administrative cost (the warden, guards, and other workers really like to get paid), and several other little items that I don't know about. Most of the cost isn't 'luxury items' like cable TV or internet access, it's the overhead cost of the prison as a whole.

I think there's more than enough fodder for discussion on the subject of whether inmates are 'coddled' or not, but frankly, the cost-based arguments are among the least convincing, at least to me. Again, based on experience in cost-accounting, I'd wager that the cost of most of the "luxury items" in the prison look like rounding errors compared to the cost of the prison itself. The article on "the prison of the future" linked above in this thread tells me that I'm at least close to the right track...it sounds like the place was designed and built to minimize staff size (personnel costs are *always* a huge part of any facility's budget). I'd expect that trend to continue in prison design...more reliance on automated systems and reduced staff sizes to cut costs. increasing compartmentalization of the inmate population (which is just another way to cut staff).

Revolving doors for moving prisoners. Slows down any attempts at a "mass" charge. Very handy. (Don't forget to put "panic exits" along side them in case of fires.)

The Outer Limits - The Sentence

There's the answer. Ok, a bit far fetched with the tech but if you had seen the episode, you would know what I'm talking about.

Wow, it's actually out there to be watched, here's the link:

The Sentence

I so dug the Outer Limits when it was on. Lots to think about in each show.