Can a prison have glass walls, balconies, communal cooking spaces and private bathrooms — and still be a prison?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14prisons-t.html
I entered college not questioning a lot of things that I probably should have been questioning. One of these things is the idea of prison. Like, whether prison actually does anything good other than keeping "bad" people off the streets (before... then just putting them back on them again). It's surprised me how easily people can forget that other people are human beings.
We always learn about the panopticon model and its perfection. It never seems to matter how inhumane it could be. They're just prisoner's right?
I think the architect has a profound impact on the way people like prisoners will be viewed by society in the future, and I wonder which way architecture will lead.
