NOTES
ON PRISON
IT TAKES FEW SECONDS TO LOAD THE DIAGRAM
05–12–25
French philosopher Michel Foucault interprets time in his book Discipline and Punish: the birth of the prison as an instrument of discipline – incarcerated individuals have no control over the schedule or phases of their day and are compelled to follow a rhythm dictated by the internal regulations of the prison. 4 This insight is key to understanding the experience of imprisonment not only in terms of restricted movement (confinement within a physical space) but also as a form of temporal enclosure. Inmates are thus surrounded not only by physical, material WALLS but also by temporal-spatial boundaries.
One of the main effects of carceral strategy on the experience of time in prison is the permanent repetition of the same activities throughout the entire sentence. In her field research conducted in a British prison, Nina Cope confirms that this routine and its monotony result in a sense that time inside the prison does not pass nor move. 5 As a result, incarcerated individuals seek various ways to speed up or slow down time subjectively in order to regain at least some degree of control over its passage. Cope notes a common phenomenon of cannabis use, which helps promote longer and more restful sleep – even during the day. 6 Leopold Lambert, editor-in-chief of The Funambulist, refers to one of the strategies of spatiotemporal resistance as disrupting the order by blocking or manipulating turnstiles, which segment and ZONE prison corridors. 7 Similar tactics can be observed, for example, in the personalizing and beautifying of prison CELLS, where the space is, on the contrary, being appropriated. 8
It is paradoxical that time – what is taken away from prisoners through the deprivation of liberty – is also the one thing of which they have an excess in prison. Lambert illustrates this ambivalence through the metaphor of a
wall – designed in such a way that a human body, without tools or technologies, cannot penetrate it. 9 In the prison context, however, a new situation arises. Time (and its surplus) becomes an instrument of penetrability: even an apparently harmless object, such as a spoon, can, through sufficient repetition, disrupt the structural integrity of the wall’s material. Over time, a spoon can pierce through a concrete wall, and the tunnel thus becomes an example of subversive architectural practice. This example was connected to Palestinian prisoners. 10
Space and time, then, become means of resistance and the deconstruction of carcerality. The exploration of prison temporality reaffirms (see the ARCHIVE) that carceral practices are not tools of reform or reconciliation and therefore should not be reformed but abolished – what is referred to as an abolitionist reframing of society. 11 Time, presented in this text as a medium of resistance, must be used for critical insight and the exposure of the harms caused by the carceral system – and to strive for a transformation that leads to the abolition of prisons as the primary form of punishment. 12
An illustrative step toward abolition is described by ethnographer John M. Eason, who highlights the necessity of redirecting investments. If the prison-industrial complex has stabilized the economy, then funds must be shifted into communities criminalized by carceral capitalism. 13 Abolition is interpreted in the archive as a spectrum with its own temporality – it is a process that must be understood as a practical and relevant approach, one that includes specific steps anchored in law, time, and space. 14
Abolition of any new design or renovation of a prison building is a law – time – space step every architect can make.
1 Meryem-Bahia Arfaoui, Turn the Walls Back to Dust, The Funambulist, 2024, no. 52, pp. 26–33. Translated by Chanelle Adams.
2 Adam Gopnik, Should We Abolish Prisons, New Yorker, 2024. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/07/29/abolition-labor-the-fight-to-end-prison-slavery-book-review-until-we-reckon-violence-mass-incarceration-and-a-road-to-repair, accessed on 2 Jan 2025.
3 Dominique Moran. Carceral Geography: Spaces and Practices of Incarceration. London 2015, p. 34.
4 Michel Foucalt, Dohlížet a trestat: kniha o zrodu vězení, Prague 2000, p. 260.
5 Nina Cope, It’s No Time or High Time’: Young Offenders’ Experiences of Time and Drug Use in Prison, The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice XLII, 2003, no. 2, pp. 158–175..
6 See note 5.
7 Léopold Lambert, The Mighty Power of the Spoon, The Funambulist, 2024, no. 52, pp. 22–25.
8 See note 3, p. 55.
9 See note 7.
10 See note 7.
11 Dawn Moore – Sarah Turnbull, Understanding Carceral Mobilities in and through Lived Experiences of Incarceration, Punishment & Society XXVI, 2024, no. 5, pp. 948–966.
12 See note 11.
13 John M. Eason, et al., Punishment Is Purple: The Political Economy of Prison Building, Punishment & Society XXVI, 2024, no. 5, pp. 967–983.
14 Piero Moraro, Philosophers on Prison Abolitionism: Theory versus Practice, Punishment & Society XXVII, 2025, no. 2, pp. 1–18.
(source Prison Service)
ADÉLA VAVŘÍKOVÁ
THEORETICAL TEXT
The project’s political dimension contributes to the discourse on prison abolition, while also serving as a professional appeal to the architectural community: to learn to recognise spaces designed for oppression and violence, and to refuse further participation in their production. Instead, it calls for the use of imagination as a design tool, encouraging the creation of a society grounded in care and social equality.
At the top of the webpage, readers will find (1) a list of frequently asked questions related to prison abolition, (2) a glossary of terms, and (3) a manual explaining the structure of the online archive, including its categories, tags, and entries.