Rehabilitation vs Punishment: How prison design system shapes behaviour

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-416-7_25How to use a DOI?

Keywords

prison design; rehabilitation; inmate well-being; Indian prisons; societal reintegration

Abstract

The design of prison facilities plays a critical role in shaping inmate behavior and supporting rehabilitation efforts. This paper examines the effectiveness of current prison designs in facilitating rehabilitation, exploring whether the spatial organization and architectural features promote positive psychological and behavioral outcomes or primarily serve punitive purposes.

It is important to trace the historical evolution of prison architecture and examine its impact on inmate well-being. The purpose of this research is to assess whether these environments meet modern objectives of rehabilitation and recidivism reduction.

This analysis includes architectural typologies, including radial and Panopticon designs, in relation to their effects on containment, control, and inmate mental health. India’s approach towards rehabilitation and reintegration of their prisoners has certain design factors owing to its lack of workability. The dormitory-style barracks contribute to one major issue of overcrowding, restricting these modern reform practices.

India’s punitive designs often hinder inmate well-being and promote cycles of marginalization rather than supporting reintegration. It is important to note why prisoners are unable to reintegrate themselves back into society despite the on-paper efforts of rehabilitation.

This paper identifies international standards and India’s standards and their juxtaposition with the current situation of the Indian prisons. The research contributes to the discourse on prison reform by emphasizing the role of architecture in transforming correctional facilities into environments that support inmate rehabilitation and societal reintegration.

The study concludes with design interventions in the model prison systems that do not satiate the growing needs of the modern prison. These interventions will enable the prison’s community wisdom and enhance their purpose of improving prisoner psychology and well-being. This will help them better integrate themselves back into society.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Dakshayani Sinha
AU  - Pallavi Keswani
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/06/14
TI  - Rehabilitation vs Punishment: How prison design system shapes behaviour
BT  - Proceedings of Innovative Multidisciplinary Approaches to Global Challenges: Sustainability, Equity, and Ethics in an Interconnected World (IMASEE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 507
EP  - 539
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-416-7_25
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-416-7_25
ID  - Sinha2025
ER  -