Abstract
Internationally the prison population is getting older. Ageing affects prisons in two other senses. A number of prison buildings are old - some physically, but for others the ideology underpinning their design prioritises young bodies. It has also been demonstrated that prison life prematurely ages people. Prison architecture is consequently often mismatched to the bodies of older prisoners, including mobility, thermoregulation, cognition, and sensorial perception. Unlike many other professions, the discipline and profession of architecture has barely - if at all - responded. Few examples of prisons designed for older people exist. Largely, the built environment response has been retrofitting single wards to accommodate portions of the ageing incarcerated population, including as dementia wards, hospices and palliative care units on prison grounds. This paper examines these examples and the issues that emerge from an analysis of New Zealand government policies on ageing, building regulations, Ombudsman and prison inspectorate reports, and prison building, furniture, and landscape design. It identifies opportunities that the design of prison environments might proactively address, but it also asks the question of whether or not older people ought to be incarcerated because of the limits of what architecture can do.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Public Policy and Public Perspectives on Aging
KEYWORDS
Prison Architecture, Older People, New Zealand
