What Works Least Worst? A Personal Account of Two New Prison Design Projects

This chapter describes two personal experiences of being part of teams planning and designing new prisons: one in Auckland, New Zealand; one in Limerick, Ireland. In many ways, the prisons were at opposite ends of the penal spectrum in terms of their geographic location, their function, and in relation to their divergent paths from commissioning to the outcome. Only one of the facilities is likely to turn out to be an example of imaginative, humane thinking in contemporary prison design, even though both prisons were initially conceived as such. Put simply, where Auckland East fell foul of a highly risk-averse and security-obsessed corrections culture, Limerick has benefitted from a prison service prepared to take risks and commission a design that is underpinned by research evidence and international best practice. Nonetheless, the experiences that I relate in the chapter underline that, however good the intentions of prison commissioners, planners and architects, the design of the built environment can only go so far in creating a rehabilitative culture in prison.