Why is the architectural design of prisons so important from a human rights and humane treatment perspective?ДЄrchitecture sends a silent message to everyone walking into any place. Having recently retired, below she reflects on her work. Isabel Hight has spent over 35 years advising on prison development and management in East Timor, Liberia, Sudan, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Congo for organisations like the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Wearing their distinctive pink uniforms, people suspected of involvement in RwandaвЂ™s 1994 genocide line up before re-entering KigaliвЂ™s central prison from a day at work in the fields next to the prison.

So what makes a good prison, and why is it is so important to get the design right? But also key is the design and construction of the buildings where prisoners will spend their time: the prison itself. There are many issues of concern when working with prison populations such as access to legal services, prevention of torture and justice system efficiency. In developing countries, they are typically crammed into buildings that are old and uncared for, neglect that leads to tragedies like the fire in 2012 that killed over 300 prisoners in Honduras. They are likely to be drawn disproportionately from the poorest and most marginalised groups in society, and in some places there are even children living in prisons with their parents (pdf) in their thousands. Around a third of prisoners globally havenвЂ™t even been found guilty вЂ“ they are on pre-trial detention. These people are not necessarily hardened criminals. The worldвЂ™s prison population has gone up 10% since 2004, and in some countries, such as Indonesia, the increase has been as high as 183%.

And then there are those that are a much harder sell sewers, for example, or prisons.Д«ut the worldвЂ™s prisons are home to an estimated 10 million people globally (pdf) and this number is rising. W hen it comes to infrastructure development in developing countries, there are projects that instantly appeal вЂ“ like hospitals.

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