What are the advantages of a proactive approach to prison administration:
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/proactive-approach-prison-population-planning.
Facility design – general plan for the prison, which will incorporate all of the prison’s functions (feeding, sleeping, showers, toilets, rec). Design can be based on cost and security level needed.
4 designs popular over the past 200 years:
radical-design prison – PA’s eastern penitentiary – looks like a wheel spoke w/one central hub in the middle. Spokes are on top of each other like tiers. This hub is called the times square of the facility b/c all passing from spoke to spoke must pass through the hub. We only have a few of these in the US.
telephone design prison – there is a central corridor ( a pole) that runs throughout the length of the facility. Cross corridors contain housing units, recreation, etc. These corridors are also stacked on top of each other. Those with different classifications can be in the same facility but have little contact w/others. A negative effect is that inmates may take over one of the corridors.
Courtyard design – walls provide security – it is a fortress w/a central courtyard. All doors open to the courtyard and all movement goes through this area. Some will have separate units with a central courtyard to keep inmates of one classification from coming into contact w/another.
Campus design prison – used mostly for women and resembles a college campus. There are buildings placed randomly throughout the facility
IV. Inmate design and inmate supervision
You cannot know what the housing units or living units look like from the outside of the facility. These units can provide insight into how a facility is managed.
1. Linear-design living units – oldest design and only allows for intermittent supervision. There is a hallway leading to two or more cells or dorms. There is a central control area (called the Sally port) at the end of the hallway to control movement. The sally port is sealed off w/glass or bars and connected to a secure hallway. Both doors cannot be opened at the same time. Cells align the hallway.
This design allows for intermittent supervision – unless the CO is right in front of the cell, they can’t see what’s going on.
2. Modified linear design living units – sally ports control access to clusters of cells and surround one security area. Some share a common day area. Some are cells and some are dorms. COs rely on electronic monitoring or two-way mirrors to observe activities in each cell.
3. Podular design living units – newest design – also known as a new generation and allows for direct supervision. Pods are arranged in a triangle which share a common day room. Cell doors are less secure but steel doors control entry into the pods.
This design allows for direct supervision – most COs spend their day in the common day rooms watching the inmates.
V. Prison Security Levels – prison’s appearance and security provisions (minimum, medium, maximum or super max). All prisons have inmate counts (each inmate must be counted several times per day. All activity in the facility stops during the inmate count), shakedowns (cell search and search of the inmate), or body cavity searches. Visits and phone calls may be monitored.
A. Maximum – high stone walls that encircle the facility. Newer facilities have chained linked fences with razor wire. They also have guns or watchtowers and can see inside and outside the facility. No privacy for these inmates.
B. medium – most do not have walls, but fence and razor wire. Usually have a watchtower and COs which patrol the perimeter. May have cells with a dayroom or dorms with shared showers and toilets. Movement is less restricted and inmates may be allowed to wear personal clothes. Escape is less likely because inmates have a shorter time left on their sentences.
C. Minimum – open campuses or camps. They are not an escape risk and may live in cottage-like settings. Many inmates do not like these facilities. They are forced to work during the day, mostly in the community
D. Super max – administrative segregation. Inmates are locked-down for 23 hours a day and do not have contact with any other inmates during their incarceration.
Regardless of security level, prison shake-downs are done routinely. This is where inmates and their cells will be searched.
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