Planned new prisons in New York are expected to emphasise rehabilitation over retribution
Layleen Polanco, a 27-year-old transgender woman, was found dead in her cell at Rikers Island Jail. She was being held on $500 bail for a misdemeanour prostitution offence and the lowest-level drug charge, and she was being kept in solitary confinement for fighting. The death was not unusual in a jail renowned for corruption and cruelty, where mostly poor defendants can languish for years while awaiting trial.
America’s prison-builders have mostly wrestled with basic questions such as whether to house prisoners separately or together, and how to manage them with as few staff as possible. In the second half of the 20th century tough-on-crime laws sparked a boom in low-cost jail-building. By 2007 one in every 100 adults was typically housed in an isolated cinder-block compound surrounded by barbed wire. More recently there has been a fashion for high-rise prisons in the middle of struggling cities.
Architects will submit proposals in 2020, but the city is already casting about for models. Officials have visited the 1,500-bed Van Cise-Simonet Detention Centre in Denver, Colorado. This building, which opened in 2010, offers some lessons. With its limestone façade, Van Cise-Simonet looks more like a museum or a university library. The interior is notable for its open spaces and the natural light from its bar-less windows.
Instead of long grey corridors lined with clanging metal-doored cells, inmates stay in smaller units that hold up to 64 people, plus a deputy. In theory this reduces violence among inmates and against staff because officers get to know the prisoners and can see problems before they arise. The pods have areas for meals, classes and recreation, which limits the risk that comes from taking inmates to and from their beds several times a day.
Mr Ricci is quick to concede that the design of Van Cise-Simonet is not perfect. Zoning constraints on the height and width of the building left inmates and staff with less elbow room and made view-obscuring pillars structurally necessary—an architect’s nightmare.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
3 Lessons Latina Founder Agustina Sartori Learned While Building GlamST And Being Acquired By UltaHow this entrepreneur created a company that combined her Latinx roots, her passion for technology and her interest in using tech to find beauty solutions:
Read more »
3 Lessons Latina Founder Agustina Sartori Learned While Building GlamST And Being Acquired By Ulta3 lessons Agustina Sartori learned running a startup based out of Uruguay and the West Coast, which later sold to Ulta Beauty.
Read more »
7 women entrepreneurs share leadership lessons they wish they’d learned soonerLeadership isn’t easy, but getting the right advice at the right time can help.
Read more »
High School Students Do Better In Science, Math And English If They Also Take Music LessonsA new, extensive study shows that students who took music lessons in high school performed better in subjects such as English, science, and math
Read more »
Quiz: The Ins and Outs of Introverts and ExtrovertsIntroverts aren’t always quiet and shy. The personality type has more to do with how you process things than how outgoing you are.
Read more »