By Dianne Frazee-Walker Raphael Sperry, founder of Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR) has the right idea about how to transform prisons and the people who reside in them. Designing prisons is fast becoming a hot topic in the world of architecture. Sperry has a specific interest in designing holding facilities that promote restoration rather than
Not only has our country earned the reputation for incarcerating more adults than any other country, but our criminal justice system has managed to win the world’s record for developed countries at 60,000 juveniles behind bars. Worldwide, The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that at any given time, an astronomical one million individuals under 18
By Dianne Frazee-Walker Sweden is doing something to lower the recidivism rate and forcing prisons to close because they are taking a different approach to crime and punishment. Globally, we need to pay close attention to what Sweden is doing. The sentences are not as long in Sweden, which makes prison authorities realize the work
Ian Manuel / Image courtesy www.askthejudge.info By Dianne Frazee-Walker Debbie Baigrie was a stay-at-home mother of two. Ian Manuel was a lost 13-year-old boy raised in a dysfunctional environment, who had already been arrested 16 times. Baigrie is white, and Manuel is black. Today Bairgie and Manuel share an unlikely close relationship with each other.
By Dianne Frazee-Walker According to educator and author David Chura, advocating for prison reform does not mean being “soft on crime.” What it does mean is people who can see the truth are tired of watching the prison system working against crime and safety. When Chura and other prison reform advocates propose approaches to lower
Alabama’s prison system is the first – and currently only – in the nation to require visitors to be fingerprinted. In late 2012, the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) implemented the new policy due to what officials claimed was a need for greater efficiency. A new computer system had the capacity to scan fingerprints, something
By Clio Chang / USNews.com The New York City Department of Corrections has decided to eliminate solitary confinement for inmates aged 16 and 17 by the end of the year. This resolution is a response to public criticism of abusive conditions at Rikers Island, which houses more than 12,000 of the city’s inmates. The jail
By Lois Davis / AL.com According to the Department of Justice, in 2012, Alabama had the third-highest imprisonment rate in the United States, trailing only Louisiana and Mississippi. A fierce debate has erupted over what to do to reduce overcrowding in Alabama prisons at a time when the state’s budget is tighter than ever. The possibility
One of the best videos about the problem of mass incarceration in the United States. Being tough on crime is not the same as being tough on criminals. Mass incarceration is a waste of money and a waste of people.
Rick Raemisch, Colorado’s new corrections director, wanted to better understand the experience of solitary confinement – so he spent a night in segregation at a state prison. Raemisch had been on the job for seven months when he decided to stay overnight in an ad seg cell at the Colorado State Penitentiary. “I thought he