Gilded Cages

• NCJ Number: 137699
• Journal: Time Dated: (May 25, 1992) Pages: 10-12
• Author(s): M Cronin
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

New designs for prisons and jails are showing positive results, but a key question is whether they are affordable.

Abstract

To house and feed an increasing number of incarcerated offenders, States have poured $30 billion into construction over the past 10 years. In 1992 it is expected that States will spend $7 billion more, while the Federal Government will invest $2 billion in a system that requires 1,100 new beds each week. Modern prison design has been evolving since the 1960's, and Boston's Suffolk County House of Correction is typical of the new design. Each housing unit is a self-contained triangular pod consisting of 30 to 60 cells on two floors overlooking a common room. Prisoners are separated into units according to their conduct rather than the seriousness of their crimes. Good behavior is rewarded with advancement through a series of increasingly privileged units, the highest of which allows inmates to spend the day in the common room, locked in with only one or two unarmed officers. Meals are shipped from central kitchens and served cafeteria style from warming tables in each pod so that prisoners never congregate in overwhelming numbers. In Tarrant County, Texas, 1,440 maximum security inmates were moved from overcrowded facilities into a new corrections center designed as the first fully functioning, direct supervision jail system in the State. The center features sunny single cells with windows rather than bars. Property damage and correctional officer turnover have been minimized with this design, thus saving money. It is estimated that direct supervision management can save almost 40 percent in construction and equipment costs and nearly 30 percent in operational costs. Although humane treatment in newly designed facilities is valuable, it is not a substitute for improved management of coherent housing, education, health, and welfare strategies that rehabilitate criminals before they go to jail in the first place.