ARCHITECTURAL DISSERTATION

CENTRAL PRISON AND REHABILITATION CENTRE

(2015-2020)

By

V. SHARMILA

Reg No: 315106101026

Under the esteemed guidance of

G.VIJAYA RATNA

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

ANDHRA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

(AUTONOMOUS)

VISAKHAPATNAM - 530003
 TOPIC: CENTRAL PRISON AND REHABILITATION CENTRE

1.0 INTRODUCTION:
1.01 CENTRAL PRISON- Prison is a place where people are legally held as a punishment
for a crime they have committed. Prisons have four major purposes. They are
retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. Retribution means punishment
for crimes against society. Depriving criminals of their freedom is a way of making
them pay a debt to society for their crimes. Incapacitation means to protect society and
prevent that person from committing further crimes. Deterrence theory states that people
don't commit crimes because they are afraid of getting caught. Rehabilitation is the
process of re-educating and retraining those who commit crime. It generally
involves psychological approaches which target the cognitive distortions associated with
specific kinds of crime committed by particular offenders - but may also involve more
general education such as literacy skills and work training. The goal is to re-
integrate offenders back into society. Central prison includes both the short term and
long term sentences.

1.02 HISTORY OF PRISON ARCHITECTURE

 A Philosopher named Jeremy Bentham was against the death penalty and thus created a
concept for a prison that would be used to hold prisoners as a form of punishment. By
the 19th century, prisons were being built for the sole purpose of housing inmates. They
were intended to deter people from committing crimes.
 Jeremy Bentham- Panoptical model
 Auburn approach-cellblocks consisting of rows of very small cells placed back-to-back
in the centre of the building and separate large workshops. Focus on Silence and solitary
confinement.
 The Pennsylvania system-cellblocks laid out in a radial pattern
 New design approaches in the 1930s
 replacement of the linear cellblock layout by clusters of inmate living units-new
emphasis in correctional philosophy
 Individual living units arranged like cottages in a village attempt to replicate non-
institutional life.

1.03 EFFECTS OF INCREATION ON THE INMATES

 they are lose their identity in the crowd of unknowns all around them
 they are prone to physical and mental assault by other inmates
 Due to isolation from the society and family leads to depression and other psychological
effects.

1.04 PRISONERS VS SOCIETY

The people of the society are not open accepting ex prisoners back because of the social
stigma which prevails amongst them against the ex-prisoners. Society creates a barrier
and denies accepting them back.
1.05 IMPORTANCE/NEED OF THE TOPIC

Man is responsive to his physical environment. The removal of a man from society and
his loss of freedom, privacy, and independence result in a totally depersonalized,
totalitarian environment.

Long-standing conventions in the design of correctional institutions and outmoded

concepts of efficiency and functionalism have led to the repetitious and symmetrical
arrangements of space and form characteristic of the corrections field. Long corridors,
highly polished floors, and hard finishes that reflect light and sound are hypnotic and
result in impersonal surroundings. The developing science of human behaviour has led
to an increased emphasis on the rehabilitation of offenders through treatment and
academic and vocational training. Basic to these programs is a concern for the inmate as
an individual. This knowledge should be applied in the design of new correctional
facilities to create an environment that will foster positive responses

1.06 AIMS AND OBJECTIVE

 To comprise treatment of prisoners is the essential aim of which shall be their

reformation and social rehabilitation.
 to provide a safe and decent regime to help rehabilitate offenders so that they can lead a
useful and purposeful lives while in prison and upon release
 Change happens from inside out, to correct their mind and behavior; it must start with
good living environment. Architectural spaces have power to influence one’s
psychological condition.
 To identify the issues involved in prison architecture.
 To design with particular attention to built environments & its effects on the inmates
behaviour.
 To further stress the need for a positive physical environment as a component in
treatment process.
 To incorporate special attention to services in proposals

1.07 SCOPE

 As there were many reforms in the design of prisons in present days, there has been a
greater need for the reformations of Indian jails. Our government also identified this.
This has created a greater need for prisons in India.

1.08 LIMITATIONS

 Location of the site along with its cost.

 Availability of resources, materials, skilled labour.
1.09 PROPOSAL-

 After bifurcation, state lost high tech jails to telangana. Capital region needs a central
jail. The govt strongly feel that there is a necessity for the construction of high
security central jail near Guntur.
 CRDA is yet to allocate the land in Krishna district.

2.0 LITERATURE STUDY:

 About different types of prison patterns and institutions since ancient times.
 Understanding the classification of different types of prisoners, type of institutions
suitable for each category of prisoner.
 Studying day-night activities of various kinds of prisoners to understand the spaces they
use and time they spend in each place.
 Studying about the layers of security of different category of prisoners.
 Studying about the different kinds of spaces in a prison, their relation and connectivity
 About the standards, layouts of cell, barracks and other facilities provided
 Study about the kind of materials, colours, architectural elements used to create an
Uninstitutional feel for the inmates.
 Understanding about the best practices which helps in the rehabilitation of the prisoners.
 Studying about the building massing, understanding why there is no context of vertical
prisons till date, its limitations and finding solutions to implement them properly.
3.0 DESKTOP STUDY:

 Halden Prison, Norway- approach to a more humane prison.

 Danish Prison- approach towards urban environment created in prisons.
 Cellular Jail, Andaman & Nicobar Islands-colonial prison constructed during the British
Regime.
 Tihar Jail, Delhi-largest prison complex in south Asia.
4.0 CASE STUDY:

 Chenchalguda Prison, Hyderabad.

 Rajahmundry Central prison.
 Visakhapatnam Central Prison.
2.0 LITERATURE STUDY:

WHERE SHOULD THEY BE LOCATED?

• SITE SELECTION- Numerous factors must be considered in the selection of a site.

Initially, the geographical area for the new facility is determined by the source of the
majority of inmates to be served, although many other factors are important. within a
geographical area the factors to be considered in site selection are as follows-

Jails are usually located in urban centres due to the need to be close to the courts. When site
availability does not allow an adjacent court-jail relationship, a transportation system must be
established to provide inmates quick and secure access to the courts.

• AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES- The facility should be as close to medical

facilities, welfare service agencies, and accessible to public transportation

• TOPOGRAPHY AND UTILITIES- The site should be reasonably level with

sufficient slope to provide good drainage. Ample acreage is required for the physical
plant and its roads, parking, and recreation areas. A "buffer zone" of vacant land is
desirable to avoid encroachment of private construction to a point where it would
influence the free flow of inmates within the facility.

• ACCESS TO COMMUNITY- Family visiting can play a major role in reorienting

an inmate's antisocial attitude and alleviating bitterness and despair over his
imprisonment.

PATTERNS OF PRISONS-

RADIAL PRISON PATTERN-

  Most of the prisons are maximum/medium security institution
with long inside cell house. The purpose of radial blocks was
to have an ease of supervision from the center.
 Example : san Vittore prison, Milan (1892)

FEATURES:

• central monitoring hub,ease of observation,close to nature proximity,equal access to

all wings,easy and efficient monitoring.

DRAWBACKS:

• lengthy corridors, area occupation is excess.

RADIAL PRISON PLAN.

BIRD’S VIEW OF RADIAL PRISON.

 PANOPTICON PRISON

By willey reveley, 1741

 They are noisy, dark and extremely inhumane. They don’t provide privacy to
any of the inmates. Every action is visible from the center.

FEATURES:

• central watch tower,focus on prisoner surveillance , physical distance between staff

and prisoner is high.

PANOPTICAN PLAN

INSIDE PANOPTICON PRISON

TELEPHONE POLE-

 long hallways with living or work quarters as add-on module units attached to
the sides

LUTHER UNIT IS A PRISON LOCATED IN NAVASOTA TEXAS

TELEPHONE POLE LAYOUT

COURTYARD-

 Built around interior courtyard.

 COURTYARD LAYOUT

CAMPUS-

 low urban structure, centered round the various leisure and working facilities,
which are connected via several streets and central square

CAMPUS DESIGN (JORDAN UNIT)

SITE PLANNING-
 • The general layout of the prison ought to be considered as early as possible as the
level of integration of the facilities will dictate whether certain spaces can be shared
between prisoner groups, or if multiple spaces for the same function can be provided.

Campus Cluster Integrated

Integrated facility low moderate high

Category Men, women, men under all high risk men

convicted, pre trial categories long-term
sentences
figure shows the specific differences between the typologies in relation to the building
location, height, circulation, and perimeter, among other considerations.
figure displays a matrix of typical layouts for various prison security levels.
CLASSIFICATION OF PRISONERS

• the classification committee recommended that following principles should be

observed for the classification of prisoners:

i. men and women shall, as far as possible, be detained in separate institutions. in an

institution which receives both men and women the whole of the premises allocated to
women shall be entirely separate;

ii. untried prisoners shall be kept separate from convicted prisoners;

iii. persons imprisoned for debt and other civil prisoners shall be kept separate from persons
imprisoned by the reason of criminal offence;

iv. young prisoners shall be kept separate from adults.

HABITUAL AND CASUAL PRISONERS:-

• A habitual offender is a person who has repeatedly committed the same crime.

• Common example of a habitual offender is – Receive drunk-driving convictions in a

row, robbery cases.

• Prisoners convicted in the same case may be transferred to different prisons.

CASUAL OFFENDERS:-

Casual prisoner is the one who is the first offender and who lapses into crime not because he
has a criminal mentality but on account of his surroundings, physical disability or mental
deficiency.

Over 90 percent of our prison populations include casual prisoners.

As per the model prison manual, 2003, casual prisoners need to be kept separate from the
habitual prisoners.

CONVICTED PRISONERS:-

• A convicted person is the one who is found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court.

UNDER-TRIAL PRISONERS:-

• Right from the introduction of modem prison system, under-trial prisoners are kept in
prisons in our country.

DETENUE PRISONERS:-

• Detunes are those persons who are involved in terrorist and other militancy related
activities.
WOMEN PRISONERS:-

• Women prisoners constitute a small minority. some of the major problems that
women prisoners are facing include separation from t families, mental and emotional
health problems, issues related to child-care and pregnancy.

TABLE SHOWING THE TYPE OF INSTITUTIONS FOR VARIOUS

CATEGORIES OF PRISONERS

Type of institution category of prisoners Examples

closed, high security prison Detune chenchalguda prison

industrial semi-open prison convicted prisoners Rajahmundry central

prison
open prison casual prisoners, under-trial Prisoner’s agricultural
prisoners colony, cherlapalli.

• Semi-open prisons or open prisons allow convicts to work outside the jail premises
and earn a livelihood and return in the evening.

DAY TO NIGHT SCHEDULE OF DIFFERENT PRISONERS.

Hour minimum medium close

morning
5:00 sleep wake up sleep
6:00 wake up breakfast wake up
7:00 breakfast/travel to travel to work breakfast/go to work
work site site/work in prison
8:00-10:00 work
11:00 30 minutes for lunch 30 minutes for lunch work
afternoon
12:00 work work 30 minutes for lunch
1:00-2:00 work
3:00 work/travel to prison travel to prison/off work day ends/time
duty on prison yard
4:00 off duty/time on time on prison yard return to cell
prison yard

5:00 30 minutes for supper

Evening
6:00-7:00
time for religious and specialized programming such as religious
services, narcotics anonymous, anger management

8:00
return to dorm return to dorm return to cellblock
9:00-10:00 remain in housing area
11:00-4:00 lights out; sleep
LAYOUTS OF CELLS FOR DIFFERENT SECURITY PRISONERS.
TABLE SHOWING THE STANDARD REQUIREMENTS-
PRISON VISITS-

Prison visits are an important part of helping prisoners to stay in contact with their families
and friends. An identification is needed to visit such as driving licence, passport.

 In planning the visitation area, there are four types of visitation spaces to be
considered:

TABLE SHOWING THE TYPE OF PRISON VISITS

VISITATION SPACES WITH WHOM

contact/open visits family with physical contact

non-contact / closed visits visitors separate from each other due to high
risk

official visits official visitors such as lawyers, social

workers, psychiatrists

conjugal visits Spouses/partners.

Q) How often you can visit someone in prison?

 A convicted prisoner is allowed at least two 1-hour visits every 4 weeks.
 A prisoner on remand (waiting for their trial) is allowed three 1-hour visits a week.

SECURITY GRADING-

• Ideally, a correctional system should include several types of institutions offering

varying degrees of custody and types of treatment programs. the following describes
the three basic types of specialized institutions.

MINIMUM SECURITY-

• Sometimes referred to as the open institution, this facility operates without armed
guard posts. if it has a fence at all, it is only for the purpose of keeping the
unauthorized public out.
MEDIUM SECURITY-

• Custody in a medium-security institution is generally achieved by a perimeter control

system that allows considerable free movement within the facility.

MAXIMUM SECURITY-

• Perimeter control is often effected by strategically located towers containing armed

guards or by circulating patrol cars in constant contact with the control center which
monitors an electronic intrusion-sensing system along the perimeter enclosure .
SOFT ARCHITECTURE:

The architecture of the new generation prison models attempts to create humane scales
and psychological benefits through the use of colors that lend aesthetic variations, visual
connections to the external environment, landscaping elements like courtyards, gardens and
pathways to create an ‘uninstitutional feel’ and intentionally normalized settings. Furnishings
are soft and rounded at the ages to prevent injury, and recessed lighting is used to remove
unsafe points that might potentially be used in suicide attempts.

WHY VERTICAL PRISON?

• In India there is no context of vertical prisons till date since there are some limitations
almost most of the prisons are confined to ground floor in some cases g+1.

LIMITATIONS -

• The outer perimeter wall is limited to a height of 20’, so there might be a scope of
distance of vision.

• With the rapid increase of urban density in our cities and land being a major
constraint there is a need to look out for solutions that allow our cities to expand and
not implode.

• At this stage today, we are a rapidly growing economy and there is a palpable
increase in exposure to global construction technologies and awareness of
architectural style vocabularies.

BUILDING MASSING

• After determining the correctional program, planners need to consider what basic
form a new correctional facility will take.

• Certainly the character of the site plays a dominant role: an urban site limited in area
will undoubtedly require vertical stacking of functions. this arrangement will apply
particularly to urban jails that need to be easily accessible to the courts.

• The resulting jail requires an efficient vertical transportation system for both inmates
and staff.
3.0DESKTOP STUDIES

EXAMPLE OF A CORRECTIONAL CENTRE (SOURCE-TSS)

 DANISH PRISON-

 location : Denmark

 constructed year : 2010

 capacity : 1000 inmates

 Low, urban structure, centered round the various leisure and working
facilities, which are connected via several streets and central square.

 The environment that is created within the prison is inspired by the

condensed urban environment and derives its star-like shape from the
surrounding sprawl of the rural area’s small villages. the environment of
the facility is conceived as a place for a variety of spatial experiences,
functional density and clarity of layout that an urban area can offer.
 the design created an urban environment, interacting with the landscape
on both sides of the 6mts tall perimeter wall.

 there is also space left for natural and cultivated areas, areas for animal
husbandry and for the integration of sports facilities in the landscape
within the perimeter.

 The architecture within the prison wall is therefore an extremely

important part of lives and experiential universe.

 That is why it was deliberately created a very caried and atimulating

environment of different space and landscape features.

 Five separate star-shaped prison blocks located on the outskirts of the

facility, one of which is high-security, where up to 250 prisoners are
housed.
  At the center of the building complex is the administrative building, the
occupation building, and a cultural center which houses a library,
religious worship room, sports facilities and a shop. four ordinary wings
and one high security wing radiate from the center. the layout affords the
architects to give each wing a view of the landscape, without allows
visual contact between one another. the complex is bound by a plaza area
and a sequence of streets that offer internal and external outdoor areas
within the confines of the perimeter wall. such a developed complexity
and heirarchy of cultivated and natural land gives the illusion of openness
and spaciousness within the complex.

each building of the complex has its own identity, and each building expresses
an important part of the inmates’ experiential universe. the complex is the limit
of the prisoner’s world, giving the total experience of the complex more
meaning. overall, the complex is clad in a warm, gray brick. the occupation
building deviates from the norm and crystal-shaped and clad in perforated metal
plates in green shades, while the cultural center is round and covered in glass
ringed by green slats. the compactness of these structures allows room for the
integration of sports facilities within the landscape, as well as areas for animal
husbandry.
the overall layout of the facility allows the inmates to percieve a world with
possibilities within their confines by creating choice and diversity in space that
mimicks the urban environment.

HALDEN PRISON-NORWAY

• “97% of Norways inmates never commit a crime after spending time in the
prison” which is the highest number in the world

• More humane prison- the underlying philosophy behind humane prison design argues
that the look and feel of a prison shouldn’t be a punishment.

• Most prisons around the world are consolidated into one single building. this style
makes it easy and efficient for inmates to move around, but the design is monotonous
and full of visually unappealing materials, like steel and concrete. plus, tight quarters
inside these spaces can foster conflict.
• this prison was designed as a middle-ground between hard and soft punishment: an
attempt to forefront the notion that although convicted criminals have had their
liberties revoked, they are on their way to recover through the prison system.

• halden has a different structure: a campus design, where inmates move from one
building to another, and are surrounded by lots of windows and construction materials
that help muffle noise and take advantage of natural light.

• the prison’s layout also encourages guards to interact with inmates face-to-face,
which fosters better relationships and reduces security-related incidents.

• the facility is located in forested area with several building each with its own look and
material, the intention being to produce a variety filled prison. depending on the level
of security, the facades alternate, from untreated wood to very dark brick – colours
and materials reiterated in the area’s rocks and vegetation. the buildings have been
constructed from nature’s own materials: tiles, bricks, untreated wood and galvanized
steel. simple monolithic shapes contrast with the landscape’s magnificent trees and
undulating woodland floor.