The Environmental Psychology Of Prisons And Jails

This book distills thirty years of research on the impacts of jail and prison environments. The research program began with evaluations of new jails that were created by the US Bureau of Prisons, which had a novel design intended to provide a non-traditional and safe environment for pre-trial inmates and documented the stunning success of these jails in reducing tension and violence. This book uses assessments of this new model as a basis for considering the nature of environment and behavior in correctional settings, and more broadly in all human settings. It provides a critical review of research on jail environments and of specific issues critical to the way they are experienced and places them in historical and theoretical context. It presents a contextual model for the way environment influences the chance of violence.

Jails and prisons are the only settings in which people are held against their will, possibly for long periods of time, and often with no pretense of doing so for their personal benefit. Occupants have little if any control over their lives, as, for instance, the most basic assumptions about privacy to dress, shower, and use the toilet are violated. This book addresses the impact of environmental design on inmates and staff members in jails and prisons and shows how design can dramatically affect the level of stress and violence.

This book distills thirty years of research on the impacts of jail and prison environments. The research program began with evaluations of new jails that were created by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which had a novel design intended to provide a nontraditional and safe environment for pretrial inmates, and documented the stunning success of these jails in reducing tension and violence. This book uses assessments of this new model as a basis for considering the nature of environment and behavior in correctional settings, and more broadly in all human settings. It provides a critical review of research on jail environments and of specific issues critical to the way they are experienced and places them in historical and theoretical context. It presents a contextual model for the way environment influences the chance of violence.

First handbook to integrate environmental psychology and conservation psychology.

"Living in Prison: The Ecology of Survival" makes a contribution to environmental psychology from a transactional perspective. From a series of some 900 interviews with prisoners and staff in New York correctional institutions, Toch and his colleagues identified eight areas of predominant inmate concern: privacy, activity, structure, support, emotional feedback, social stimulation, activity, and freedom. On the basis of these dimensions, an innovative psychological instrument, the Prison Preference Inventory, was developed and administered to 2,650 inmates in five major prison systems. The analysis of these data leads to a consideration of the match between inmate and setting, as well as valuable suggestions for the improvement of person-environment transactions in prisons and in other human environments.

This book illuminates the relationship that links environments to the persons who must live and work in them. By presenting the maximum security prison as a living environment, and illustrating the personal impact prisons have on individual inmates, Hans Toch, who is a psychologist with many years of research experience in "real life" settings, shows us how men adapt to stressful stimuli. He also provides a blueprint for reform--a practical solution to the problem of making prisons, and other settings, more effective and more humane.

Current and future prison designs are examined in this book, within the government's prison building programme, and the confines of current penal philosophies and legislation. America has led the way in prison design, with two main types of architecture predominating: radial layouts (outside cells with windows) and linear blocks (inside cells with grilles). Now, 'new' generation prisons (central association surrounded by small groups of cells) look set to become the fashion. But are they a better answer, and should they be copied worldwide before we know? Architects and administrators show in this book the designs of these 'new generation' prisons and assess their impact. Most countries in central Europe also have a rising crime rate and a demand for new prisons. Contributions from significant architects from the UK, Europe and America comment on these issues. Other topics within the book are: setting current prison architecture and design against an historical setting; looking at penal ideas and prison architecture and design in the post-war period; the psychological effects of the prison environment; the influence of technology and design on security management; and how prison architecture and design can be more flexible and innovative.