Prison Design — Jail and Prison Conditions — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Jail and Prison Conditions

Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.

Posts in Prison Design

NYC pushes forward with plans to convert Rikers Island into public space

“New York’s City Planning Commission certified an application on Monday that would rezone Rikers Island as a public space. The application launched the beginning of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) for the conversion, which would ban jails from operating on the 400-acre island after December 31, 2026. The application is just one step involved in the controversial plan to replace Rikers with four borough-based jails, which was approved by the City Council in October.“

The Architect’s Newspaper

December 3, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesDecember 5, 2019The Architect's Newspaper, Rikers Island, New York CityComment

New York’s Jails Are Failing. Is the Answer 3,600 Miles Away?

“In recent months, city officials have set out to find answers, touring facilities across the United States and in Europe. In late September, they touched down in a place far different from New York: Norway, a welfare state with a low crime rate whose population is fairly homogeneous and smaller than New York’s.“

New York Times

November 12, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesNovember 12, 2019New York Times, Rikers Island, NorwayComment

Major Sacramento County jail project stalls after inmate advocates rally against expansion

“For months, activist groups have protested the expansion, arguing the county should be more focused on reducing and aiding its existing inmate population rather than planning for its growth. Asantewaa Boykin, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, told the board at its Tuesday meeting “handcuffs are not therapeutic, forced compliance does not equal wellness.”“

Sacramento Bee

November 7, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesNovember 7, 2019Sacramento Bee, SacramentoComment

Can We Build a Better Women’s Prison?

“These were all problems Johnson remembered well, and she walked out the door feeling relieved that she could leave. But she was also brooding about what she’d heard, and how to incorporate the women’s wishes into the sheriff’s office’s reform effort. What would a state-of-the-art women’s jail — one focused on rehabilitation and second chances instead of punishment and retribution, with an eye to women’s specific needs — look like?“

Washington Post Magazine

October 28, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesOctober 28, 2019Washington Post MagazineComment

New Orleans Advocates Oppose Jail Expansion Plan Ahead of Public Hearing

“The plan, submitted in August by Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s office, proposes increasing the city’s jail population cap. The proposal also would expand a temporary facility to house people with mental health conditions, as well as 150 state prisoners who are on work release or are kitchen workers.“

The Appeal

October 7, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesOctober 25, 2019The Appeal, New OrleansComment

‘A stain on New York City’: As lawmakers vote to close Rikers Island, some see history repeating itself

“Today, however, the jail complex — the second-largest in the United States — is nearly synonymous with the tolls of mass incarceration and its disproportionate effects on blacks and Hispanics. Thousands of inmates have been held there for years on end as they await trial, critics say, in facilities that have been rife with abuse, violence and mismanagement for decades. Now, Rikers will probably be closed for nearly the same reason it was opened.“

Washington Post

October 18, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesOctober 18, 2019Washington Post, Rikers Island, New York CityComment

Opinion: How to Close Rikers Island

“Owing in large part to the reforms, New York City officials project that by 2026 the city’s jails will be tasked with housing no more than 3,300 people. With that number in mind, the City Council is expected to vote this month on a plan to close the jail complex at Rikers Island completely by 2026 by sending New Yorkers instead to four jails spread across the five boroughs. The plan would be safer for inmates, safer for guards and more compassionate for the residents of a city that is playing a lead role in ending the era of mass incarceration.“

New York Times

October 13, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesOctober 13, 2019New York Times, Rikers Island, New York CityComment

A Floating Jail Was Supposed to Be Temporary. That Was 27 Years Ago.

“In the years since it opened, the Bain Center has stayed relatively the same. Inside, the walls and ceilings are still colored an off-white gray. The barge sways with the waves. Inmates can exercise on the top floor inside a caged-enclosed recreational area that has views of Rikers Island. From their cells, inmates can look out through tiny portholes.“

New York Times

October 10, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesOctober 10, 2019New York Times, Rikers Island, Bain Center, New York CityComment

Closing Rikers: Competing Visions for the Future of New York City’s Jails

“Listening to her speak reminded me of reading de Blasio’s 2016 comment that the closure of Rikers was “unrealistic,” and made me think how little had truly changed since. It fell to the abolitionist Mariame Kaba to warn of the cost of failing to realize what’s possible: “We will be back in this room, I promise you, in ten years, if these four new facilities are built, calling these facilities inhumane.”“

New York Review of Books

October 4, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesOctober 4, 2019New York Review of Books, Rikers IslandComment

Opinion: NYC Should Learn from LA Before Building New Jails

“The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to terminate a plan to replace the Men’s Central Jail facility with a $1.7 billion new jail. In doing so, the Supervisors voted to explore ways to invest the billions in a more sensible and progressive manner – like opting for a community based mental health care facility managed by the Department of Health, instead of a new shiny jail managed by the Department of Corrections.“

City Limits

September 27, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesSeptember 27, 2019City Limits, New York City, Los AngelesComment

LA County Scraps Mental Health Jail After Protests Led By Reform LA Jails

“On Tuesday (August 13), the 3,885-bed facility, which was slated to house pretrial detainees with mental health and substance abuse issues, was scrapped in large part due to years of activism from prison reform groups and added to a growing nationwide trend of halting the expansion of mass incarceration in favor of investing in community-based treatment programs and other alternatives.“

BET

August 15, 2019

Mental Health, Prison DesignPhillip ReevesAugust 15, 2019BET, LA County, Los AngelesComment

Spotlight: Fighting Against a New Prison--and Winning--in Eastern Kentucky

“From the beginning, the project faced significant pushback. There were locals who questioned the environmental impact and risks of a prison in a region already ravaged by decades of coal mining and challenged the notion that their area’s economic well-being should be reliant on incarceration.“

The Appeal

July 1, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesJuly 1, 2019The Appeal, KentuckyComment

Cruel and unusual punishment: When states don’t provide air conditioning in prison

“Air conditioning has become nearly universal across the South over the last 30 years, with one exception: in prisons. Although 95% of households in the South use air conditioning, including 90% of households that make below $20,000 per year, states around the South have refused to install air conditioning in their prisons, creating unbearable and dangerous conditions for incarcerated people.“

Prison Policy Initiative

June 18, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesJune 18, 2019Prison Policy InitiativeComment

When America had an open prison – the story of Kenyon Scudder and his ‘prison without walls’

“Many Scandinavian countries even have open prisons – minimum security institutions that rely less on force and more on trust. Some don’t even have a locked perimeter, and they emphasize rehabilitation and preparation for a return to society. Back in the U.S., this might seem like an unattainable ideal. But in California, nearly 80 years ago, there was an open prison.“

The Conversation

June 14, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesJune 14, 2019The Conversation, CaliforniaComment

It’s 100 degrees in California and this prison’s air conditioning is broken, again

“Temperatures are supposed to hover around 100 degrees this week at a federal prison in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, and they’ll remain in the high 90s all summer. For the third year running, prison staff say their air conditioning is broken under the strain of those high temperatures.“

McClatchy DC

June 6, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesJune 6, 2019California, McClatchy DCComment

Fixing ‘inhumane’ jail conditions part of Sacramento County’s $4.4 billion budget plan

“Released Tuesday, the $4.4 billion spending plan is a 2.4 percent increase from last year’s budget, with county departments angling to get about $33.1 million for new or improved programs. The staff budget also recommends about $43 million in cuts, mostly by eliminating vacant positions. No layoffs are proposed. “

Sacramento Bee

June 4, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesJune 4, 2019Sacramento, Sacramento BeeComment

San Francisco Officials Wanted to Close A Dilapidated Jail by 2019. Why is it still open?

“Gascón has endorsed a third option: The jail’s residents, or some of them, could be housed in what his office is calling a behavioral health justice center, meant to divert people from the jail by offering them mental health and substance use disorder treatment.”

The Appeal

December 14, 2018

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesMay 31, 2019The Appeal, San FranciscoComment

De Blasio says city will shrink planned jails

“De Blasio said the city will consider moving different agencies to Rikers Island after closing the jails. The number of detainees in New York City jails has decreased by roughly 30 percent since 2013, the year de Blasio took office. State and city criminal justice reforms related to bail and prosecution of low-level offenses are expected to further decrease the city’s jail population.“

Queens Daily Eagle

May 22, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesMay 22, 2019Queens Daily Eagle, Rikers Island, New York CityComment

Nebraska faces a prison-crowding emergency

“But Nebraska’s troubles show that reducing prison populations is not always as simple as mustering political will. The state’s legislature, judiciary and multiple governors have all agreed that they need to trim its prison population—to no avail. Nebraska illustrates the complex incentives at work in America’s harsh penal system.“

The Economist

April 11, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesApril 11, 2019Nebraska, The EconomistComment

A new D.C. jail is a shortsighted solution

“The recommendation to build a new jail, however, is a shortsighted proposal that fails to address a more enduring problem: D.C.’s legacy of over-policing, over-incarcerating and dehumanizing its most vulnerable community members.“

Washington Post

March 22, 2019

Prison DesignPhillip ReevesMarch 22, 2019Washington Post, Washington DCComment