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Architecture and design play a pivotal role in U.S. criminal justice reform. As momentum builds to end mass incarceration, some cities and architecture firms believe that building “more humane” prisons and jails will help solve key parts of the nation’s incarceration problem. Cities such as San Diego; San Mateo, California; Birmingham, Alabama; Denver; Salt Lake City; and Nashville are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into building new correctional facilities boasting sunlight, air, greenery, and more programming space. Earlier this year in New Orleans, a federal judge...

U.S.-based geographer Brian Jefferson argues in a new book that “smart city” systems tech firms such as IBM have built in New York City and Chicago extend carceral management systems into urban spaces. He shows how “cellular towers, cooling equipment, environmental sensors, fiber-optic cables, local area networks, mobile devices, server rooms, and smart cameras” are engineered to allow governments and private technology firms to supervise entire communities in a manner that increasingly resembles carceral management. The Shawan “Safe City” shows that in less democratic contexts, s...

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has amended its professional code of ethics to prohibit members from designing execution chambers or spaces to be used for torture, including long-term solitary confinement. “We are committed to promoting the design of a more equitable and just built world that dismantles racial injustice and upholds human rights,” said AIA 2020 President Jane Frederick. “AIA members are required to uphold the health, safety and welfare of the public. Spaces for execution, torture and prolonged solitary confinement contradict those values. This decision empha...

Prominent Architects Group Prohibits Design of Death Chambers The American Institute of Architects has changed its stance on members who design spaces for executions or prolonged solitary confinement. A death-row jail cell in Huntsville, Tex. The design of such quarters has raised questions.Credit...Reuters Dec. 11, 2020 The American Institute of Architects said Friday that it had approved new ethics rules prohibiting members from knowingly designing spaces intended for execution or torture, including for prolonged periods of solitary confinement. Such a rule has been championed by architectu...