NOTES
ON PRISON
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The prison emerged as a reform of capital punishment and public executions. 3 This manifestation of humanity required a “new” architecture that would employ a specific language of incarceration. Each era created its own carceral ornament that contributed to the shared notion of how and whom to punish. Scholars (Haber-Thomson, Jewkes, Johnston, McKinney White, etc.) consistently identify the reconstruction of the former medieval gate into the Newgate Gaol in London (architect George Dance, 1780) as an iconic building for the new carceral visual language. The iconic quality lies particularly in the rendering of its façade – stark walls with almost no windows, complemented by blind aedicule. Among the characteristic carceral ornaments of the 18th century, one may also include clock towers (e.g., Pentonville or Pentridge prisons), representing incarceration through the passage of time. One symbol that has endured is the WATCHTOWER. 4
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In the 19th century, the visual language of architecture became evocative: Gothic predominated in churches, antiquity in educational institutions, banks associated themselves with palaces and Renaissance styles, and the appearance of prisons resonated with medieval castles. This tendency can also be observed in the two most significant models in the ”West” – the Auburn silent system and the Philadelphia solitary confinement model. 5 During the 20th century, prison architecture resonated primarily with the modernist tendency to reject secondary aesthetic ornament and decoration. The second half of the 20th century was heavily influenced by the rise of global capitalism, and the austere modernism was transformed into the most economically advantageous monolith, whose ornament was primarily intensified surveillance – higher walls and multiplied barbed and razor wires. The purpose of these (violent) elements is not to protect, but to harm. 6 The current technological and sharp ornamentation symbolizes control and underscores the power and lack of alternatives imposed by the ruling establishment. 7
The visual language of prison architecture is particularly significant because it actively contributes to the overall image of criminality. It reinforces shared notions of the criminal population (shaped by Hollywood productions and the news), which is not to be granted with any care, since everyone who is imprisoned is assumed to be responsible for their own fate. 8 In doing so, it camouflages the real causes of why people end up in prison and rejects any associated discussion.
The importance of tracing the carceral ornament throughout history lies in uncovering the legacy from which current architectural practice emerges. 9 The structure of the prison, its floor plans, and its ornament actively contribute to the development of mass incarceration, the outcome of which is oppression, trauma, and dehumanization (see: increased risk of death following release from prison 10). The architectural community must reflect on its position within this process and take a critical stance in the debate on constructing new prisons. Who else, if not architects – trained in imagination and vision – should reveal the violent and exploitative strategies embedded in buildings and complexes? It is essential to advocate for change and to offer alternative possibilities beyond current conditions (see more in the Jaqueline Tyrwhitt Urban Design Lecture: Deanna Van Buren, “Designing for Abolition”). 11
1 Dana McKinney White – Lisa Haber-Thomson, Building Carcerality, Inquest, 2024. Available at: https://inquest.org/building-carcerality/, accessed on 13 Mar 2025.
2 Yvonne Jewkes – Ben Crewe – Jamie Bennett (ed.), Handbook on Prisons, London 2016, p. 178.
3 Michel Foucault, Dohlížet a trestat: kniha o zrodu vězení, Prague 2000, p. 323.
4 See note 2, p. 184.
5 Dominique Moran, Carceral Geography: Spaces and Practices of Incarceration, London 2018, pp. 115–118.
6 Léopold Lambert. Carceral Environments, The Funambulist, 2016, no. 4. Available at: https://thefunambulist.net/magazine/04-carceral-environments, accessed on 9 Jan 2025.
7 Philip Hancock – Yvonne Jewkes, Architectures of Incarceration: The Spatial Pains of Imprisonment, Punishment & Society XIII, 2011, no. 5, pp. 611–629.
8 Angela Y. Davis, Jsou věznice překonané?, Prague 2021.
9 See note 1.
10 Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, et al, Association of Restrictive Housing During Incarceration With Mortality After Release, JAMA Network Open II, 2019, no. 10.
11 Deanna Van Buren, Designing for Abolition: Jaqueline Tyrwhitt Urban Design Lecture, Harvard Graduate School of Design, available at: www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/deanna-van-buren-designing-for-abolition/, accessed on 24 Apr 2025.
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.