The debate around prison reuse swells as reform measures continue to decrease incarceration rates dramatically

Some prisons have been successfully transformed into whiskey distilleries, youth hostels, museums and boutique hotels. Others have been demolished, sometimes over the objections of local preservationists. But there’s a third option: Carceral sites can be reoriented as places that actively work to undo the damage wrought by mass incarceration.The movement to design spaces that are actively working to undo some of the social harms caused by mass incarceration is still fairly nascent, with salient projects in Atlanta and other places serving as models that can be applied in the age of bail reform, alternative sentencing, and other measures that have reduced the overall prison population by up to 42% in certain states. “Our view is that more architects should instead help those who are formerly incarcerated so they don’t go back to prison, and to support populations who are targeted and at high-risk for incarceration,” DJDS founder Deanna van Buren told Archinect’s Antonio Pacheco in a 2019 interview. The impetus should be shifted even further towards designing spaces that alleviate the sources of crime in the mold of DJDS. As Thoreau said: “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”