Image via Complex Original
A recent hunger strike in California’s maximum-security Pelican Bay State Prison sparked a debate about the nature of prison design—what is ethical and how does design implicitly affect how prisoners aretreated? We don’t often consider that prisons—like sneakers, cars, album covers, and cans of energy drinks—can feature great design. It's because by nature, prisons are out of sight. We’re not just talking about functional, utilitarian design. There are some genuinely beautiful prisons out there. Whether for the purpose of structure, aesthetic, function, or social relation, beauty in a prison is a valid thing to contemplate. Here are The Best Designed Prisons From All Over the World that are fascinating to look at, contemplate, and imagine being locked up in.
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20. Tower Of London
Architects: Various
Location: London
How could we not include Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress on this list? It's perhaps the most famous prison in the world and certainly one of the most elegant. It's not just a prison for people, it's a cultural lockup as well. When it was constructed in the year 1078, it was a mar on the London skyline—a symbol built by William the Conqueror of people who did not belong there. For the 850 years following, the phrase "sent to the tower" carried almost as much weight as the crown jewels themselves. The lasting worth of its construction keeps its turrets familiar and welcomed on the London skyline.
19. La Concierge
Architects: Various
Location: Paris
Probably the most brutal prison in the history of prisons, La Concierge is where rebels during the French revolution were held until being shipped out to lose their heads at the hands of the guillotine. That doesn't distract from the beauty of the medieval architecture here, particularly in the Hall of the Guards—imagine Dead Man Walking but set in one of the most opulent palaces ever built.
18. Cellular Jail
Architect: British Raj
Location: Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India
With a lemon-yellow façade and a florid brick interior, India's Cellular Jail is unlike any other correctional facility in the world. Its sub-tropical colonial style is notable considering it was used to house Indian dissidents during the British occupation; it was considered a place of pilgrimage by Indian freedom fighters and now serves as a national monument. It was also known as Black Water, a place of isolation on an atoll off the coast.
17. Metropolitan Correctional Center
Architect: Harry Weese
Location: Chicago
Much like New York City's Flatiron building, Chicago's Metropolitan Correctional Center is wedged into the skyline like a triangular prism slicing into the sky. Though nearby residents would likely argue against the monolithic look of this structure, we think there's an austere (if not bland) beauty to the design. We also have a feeling that the building inspired the Jonathan Lethem short story, "The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye."
16. Presido Modelo
Architect: Johnathan Benthem, under the direction of Gerardo Machado
Location: Isla de la Juventud, Cuba
This Cuban prison was constructed around the idea of the panopticon—cells are in a circular formation around a single observation tower. The idea is that a prisoner never knows exactly which way the observer is looking, so he or she always behaves. It was thought to be a humane way to house inmates (in this case, including Fidel Castro and his brother Raul). Though it's somewhat like ruin porn, the way it's crumbling gives it a derelict chic look from the inside and an over-refined or plain look on the façade.
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15. Fort Boyard
Architect: Comissioned by Louis XIV
Location: West Coast of France
One of the oldest structures on our list, Fort Boyard sits in the sea off the coast of France in the Pertuis d'Antioche straits. Before its abandonment in the early 1900s, it was a military prison and a fort under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte. Centuries earlier, Louis XIV started construction. Now, it's sadly crumbling into the ocean in a tragically elegant way.
14. Canto Grande Prison
Architect: Unknown
Location: Lima, Peru
This is the objectively least attractive prison on the list, but the genius of its design lies in how it was once run. Certainly this is a maximum-security prison in the grand sense of the term, and conditions were so terrible here that the inmates took things into their own hands. Two separate cellblocks, including one that housed many members of a Latin organized crime group called Shining Path, took things into their own hands to run their portions of the prison. This included keeping things civil, sanitary, and safe; they even went as far as to import their own food. The guards not only allowed it, they encouraged it.
13. East Jutland State Prison
Architect: Friis & Moltke
Location: Horsens, Denmark
Clean, spacious, and embedded in the landscape, the new East Jutland State Prison became notable for its design that made its buildings appear to grow out of the ground. It was a technique that diminished the institutional feel of the structures while using the natural elements as a focal point of the construction. It's considered to be one of the most secure prisons in all of Scandinavia.
12. Central Prison
Architect: William J. Hicks
Location: Raleigh, N.C.
A notable aspect of Raleigh's old central prison is that inmates themselves constructed it with granite quarried from just outside its walls. It took more than 14 years to complete but was one of the state's most gorgeous landmarks.
11. Kakola Prison
Architect: Ernst Lohrmann
Location: Turku, Finland
This Finnish hilltop prison resembles a manor house more han a maximum security prison, but since it was abandoned in 2007 and completely closed to the public in 2011, it now has a haunting air to it. Approach at your own risk.
10. Eddyville Prison
Architect: Richard H. Stanton, Mason William Beckner, Clark County, General H. B. Lyon
Location: Eddyville, Ky.
Yet another historically significant architectural monument, Kentucky's Eddyville state prison is also known as the Castle on the Cumberland. It's as imposing as it is storied with riots, murders, escapes, and even one conflict so harried to its name that the National Guard had to be called in to help quell an uprising of just two prisoners (they barricaded themselves in the dining hall for four days). While the façade is gorgeous, it's a maximum security joint that houses the state's worst offenders.
9. Port Arthur Separate Prison
Architect: Unknown
Location: Port Arthur, Tasmania
This is considered to be one of the most inhumane prisons in the world, but the beauty of its design can hardly be denied; its isolation and structure could have been taken straight from the wild worlds of the videogame classic Myst. This Tasmanian facility was notorious for experimental 19th-century treatments, where prisoners were almost always kept in solitary confinement. This was thought at the time to help prisoners consider the benefits of life outside the walls, rather than the torture of singular life within them.
8. Allegheny County Jail
Architect: Henry Hobson Richardson
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa.
There's a quiet dignity to the spires and stone of the old Allegheny jail, designed by one of the greatest American architects, Henry Hobson Richardson. The late 19th-century architecture was considered to be some of the finest of the era, and the architect himself considered it to be his finest work. Unfortunately, he did not live to see the completion of the steep-roofed and arched-window building. It was innovative for its time for having an open courtyard, which provided light and air to the entire building. The jail officially closed in 1995. Now, the bulky, modern, and new Allegheny County Prison can be seen from across the river.
7. Juvenile Pavilion
Architect: Emile van Vugt and Misak Terzibasiyan for UArchitects
Location: Overloon, The Netherlands
This juvenile detention center focuses on bringing the outside world in, seemingly to remind its young inmates that their lives will not end within the walls. The thinking behind the design here was to keep the inmates, though imprisoned, engaged with the outside world, to drive motivation for rehabilitation.
6. Halden Prison
Architect: Erik Møller Architects
Location: Halden, Norway
This is a sleek and modern Norwegian prison that's received international attention for its humane treatment of prisoners; they share kitchens and living rooms, and their cells are equipped with televisions and non-barred windows. It almost resembles an art school dormitory in that sense. Like other Norwegian prisons, the focus on human rights and dignity keeps recidivism rates very low. The architects even commissioned street artist Dolk to create apropos murals in the outdoor areas of Halden.
5. Bastoy Prison
Architect: Unknown
Location: Near Oslo, Norway
Sometimes no design is the best design. That's where Bastoy Prison, this repurposed island off the coast of Southern Norway, fits in. Once a penal colony for young boys, it looks more like a summer camp than it does a prison. An hour by ferry from Oslo, only five guards of about 70 remain on the island over night. It's considered an "eco-prison," where the inmates must till the land there in order to eat and survive. Its lack of security speaks to its function, and it also features one of the lowest re-perpetration rates in the world.
4. Philadelphia Eastern Penitentiary
Architect: John Haviland
Location: Philadelphia
This post-revolutionary prison was designed with the intent of putting the fear of god into its inmates, and one must admit that it is an imposing, if not also gorgeous structure. Jailers were so serious about this that they kept inmates hooded at any moment outside of their cells. Though it looks like a medieval castle on the facade, it's internal network was the basis for much prison architecture that would follow. It's now said to be haunted.
3. Montgomery Burns Prison
Architect: Frank Gehry
Location: Springfield
This is clearly a fictional prison, but it's too good not to mention. In season 16 of The Simpsons, the town commissioned renowned architect Frank Gehry to design a new concert hall. The project went belly up in a day. To save the building, Mr. Burns buys the swirly building up and turns it into a state prison. So posh.
2. Justizzentrum Leoben Minimum Security Prison
Architect: Hohensinn Architektur
Location: Steiermark, Austria
The argument made (not by me) against a prison designed as well as this is that the facility is so nice that underprivileged people will commit crimes in order to enjoy the benefits of incarceration. The Austrian facility contains vintage furniture and valuable artworks, lots of natural light, outdoor space, and common spaces that are accessible at any time. It also looks more like a modern hotel or museum than what we're used to seeing in a prison.
1. Yancheng Prison
Architect: The Chinese Government
Location: Jiangsu Province, China
There are prisons in China that are as corrupt as they are opulent and cushy. Among the most recognized is Yancheng Prison in Jiangsu Province, China. The architecture was based on that of the White House and indeed looks more like a state palace than an internment institution. Reportedly, Yangcheng is the prison of choice for former members of the Communist party, but being incarcerated here means being able to hit up a cocktail lounge or basketball court or just chilling in the cells that are about the size of an average New York City apartment.
