We argue that this represents a rare opportunity, not only to build new facilities that are fit-for-purpose, but to re-assess how their aesthetic and spatial design might be mobilized to support a different model of criminal justice than that which has dominated since the last major wave of prison construction in the 1960s. We discuss the current policy context in the UK, as new prisons have been built in Scotland and are being planned for England & Wales and Northern Ireland. Placing prison design in historical and geographical perspectives, we consider how evolving penal philosophies have been manifested in the form and fabric of prison buildings over the last two centuries.
This chapter seeks to convey why the architecture and design of prisons is pivotal to a full and nuanced understanding of ‘prison studies’.
