Almost every person with a custodial sentence will be released back into society and, for most of them, how they think, feel and act on release is determined by what they experience within the prison system.

Poorly designed prisons and prison systems cost governments many billions of pounds through preventable reoffending. Reoffending detrimentally affects many thousands of lives and the direct human and cultural cost of this avoidable criminal behaviour is colossal.

A better approach to how we look at the design and development of prisons and prison systems can create real change; this is an area where design can have a huge impact on society.

This website’s content aims to take a fresh look at Prisons and Prison Systems. It has resulted in a series of concepts that is designed towards the reduction of reoffending alongside security and safety.

The research and learning process for the concepts on this site has pulled on the knowledge of a plethora of organisations working for the improvement of prisons as well as the opinions of prisoners, former prisoners, various members of prison staff, politicians, prison management companies and prison inspectors.

This ongoing research aims to create design concepts for a balanced system, focused on reducing reoffending, that uses of modern but mature technologies and is, essentially, realistic.

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Amongst other aims, the concepts on this website aim to;

  • Inherently create a different prison experience for different prisoners in a non-discriminatory manner to account for a simple concept that different prisoners need different experiences in order to have a positive effect
  • Allow the traditional role of prison officers to shift away from ‘prison controllers,’ towards people who are qualified to help, support and educate prisoners while still able to maintain order within the prison
  • Provide tangible systems of education allowing prisoners to gain the key skills they require for 98% of jobs, coupled with systems to identify those with poor ability
  • Is different concerning the treatment of drug users and more thorough on the supply chain of drugs into prison
  • Increase the difficulty of organising criminal activities from within prison
  • Reduce the likelihood of riots and allows ‘prisoner type’ segregation depending on likely negative effects on other prisoners
  • Make it riskier and more difficult for staff to undertake corrupt activities
  • Is designed in a way that enables prisons to be built closer to prisoners families

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Concepts on this site in general;

  • Involves the design of the physical prison and how it will work, but does not involve specific architectural expertise; the super structure is largely irrelevant until the wide ranging systems and system-enabling design details have been thought through
  • Includes design detail for critical aspects of a prison, e.g. cells and some security systems
  • Looks at the relationship between prison officers and prisoners, daily routines and security protocols to allow prisoners to make progress
  • Aims to create a ‘joined up’ system that links to the wider context of rehabilitation
  • Is focused on the UK prison system; a prime example of a prison system in need of change

Other articles;

Protection of the public > Article about the key justification for prisons

About PrisonDesign.org > About this website

Problem Overview > General problems with prisons in the UK

Politics of Prison Design > Political issues surrounding Prison Design


Almost every person with a custodial sentence will be released back into society and, for most of them, how they think, feel and act on release is determined by what they experience within prison.

Poorly designed prisons and prison systems cost governments many billions of dollars through preventable reoffending. We should also remember that offending and reoffending detrimentally affects, or ruins, hundreds of thousands of lives. The direct human and cultural cost of this avoidable criminal behaviour is colossal.

A better approach to how we look at the design and development of prisons and prison systems can create real change. This is an area where design can have a huge impact on society.

This project aims to take a fresh look at prisons and prison systems. It has resulted in a system that is designed with the reduction of reoffending alongside security, staff and prisoner safety.

The design has taken into consideration the research of a plethora of organisations working for the improvement of prisons as well as the opinions of prisoners, former prisoners and various members of prison staff, politicians, private prison management companies and prison inspectors.

This ongoing research has enabled the design of what should be a more balanced system that makes intelligent use of mature technologies and is, essentially, realistic.