Jury comments: This project takes on the challenge of reinventing jail facilities and detention centers. A multidisciplinary team of architects, planners, social and environmental psychologists, and incarceration reform advocates contributed to this project. Designed as a replacement for Rikers Island, this project would be located in each of the five boroughs of New York City.
The goal of the study was to find ways to dignify and humanize the experience for everyone involved in the Department of Corrections. With respect to the visitor experience, the study defined the following goals:
Open access to information, allowing people to know where their loved one or client is and schedule visits and meetings online
Respectful and supportive interaction with correction officer and staff
Well-considered and appropriate waiting areas
Timely information and processing
Visitor meeting rooms with a “conference room–type” atmosphere including a variety of furniture, direct supervision, and areas with toys and soft surfaces for children
Access to natural light, air, and connection to outdoor spaces and views
Rather than creating a centralized jail or detention center in each borough, services for the detainees are decentralized.
The jury wondered how this conceptual shift in the correction system could be implemented. The political challenges of implementing change of this magnitude within the current fabric of the city will be a difficult process to move forward. People living and working close to the proposed facilities will likely push hard against such development.
