Prison, design and rehabilitation
- Submitting institution
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University of East London
- Unit of assessment
- 13 - Architecture, Built Environment and Planning
- Output identifier
- 29
- Type
- K - Design
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month
- -
- Year
- 2014
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
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-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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2
- Research group(s)
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-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Prison, design and rehabilitation is an 8-year portfolio of research and intervention work undertaken by Roland Karthaus, focused on informing current commissioning and operational practices in the Justice system. The portfolio centres on two major grant-funded outputs, developed and co-authored with small teams of experts: RSA Transitions: building a rehabilitation culture (2014) and Wellbeing in Prison Design (2017). The impetus for the research arose from a lack of evidence and expertise - expressed by justice professionals – in reducing re-offending through the commissioning, design, management and operation of buildings and land assets. Focus group studies from more than 200 organisations and individuals, with data collection from agencies and qualitative surveys, were conducted alongside a comprehensive review of policy documents and academic literature. Gaps and opportunities were identified and interventions were developed to support decision-making. An overlying methodology of co-design was applied throughout the process to facilitate its adoption by justice policymakers, practitioners and to demonstrate a novel process within the justice sector.
The research directly informed the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) policy development and a new prison commissioning programme. Wellbeing in Prison Design was published as an exemplar case study on Europris (a European Justice knowledge exchange platform) by the MoJ.
It has been widely reported in the architectural press (Architect’s Journal, Building Design, Architecture Today), in the Justice sector (RussellWebster.com, Custodial Facilities Forum) and more broadly as a demonstrator of environmental psychology improving architecture (Wired magazine, BBC Radio 4). Karthaus has presented the work at numerous conferences, seminars and public talks including at the Royal Institutes of British Architects (RIBA) and presented internationally at the European Society of Criminologists conference. In 2018, a paper describing the portfolio won the RIBA President’s Award for Research in Ethics and Sustainability and was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Architecture.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -