WIDN blog

HMP Peterborough was cited as an example of how colour can be used to effect an appropriate response from users in a particular space. The dining area (above) is awash with calming violet, while the mother and baby unit (below) is bright and stimulating.

Last week, the NY Times featured a prison in the Austrian town of Leoben. Far removed from the classic Victorian brick and concrete pens, designer Josef Hohensinn used glass, wood and concrete to create a sense of freedom in perhaps the last place you would expect to find it.

200 inmates live in one-person cells with private bathrooms, kitchenettes and floor-to-ceiling windows that open onto balconies. The whole facility is carefully sound-proofed and there is a gym, prayer room and a room for conjugal visits.

Since opening in 2004, Leoben has been seen as a bellwether for modern prison design, with a similar facility planned for Berlin.

The inscription on the prison wall reads, “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.” This quotation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights reflects Hohensinn’s principles on building the prison. “They are criminals,” he told the NY Times, “but they are also human beings. The more normal a life you give them here, the less necessary it is to resocialise them when they leave.”

Perhaps this radical shift of what a prison building can look like proves that as well as their inmates, prisons themselves can be rehabilitated.

Full FX article here

Full New York Times article here