Correctional Architecture

W niniejszym tekście zaakcentowany jest głównie wątek przestrzeni fizycznej, w jakiej odbywana jest kara. Oznacza to, że analizie nie jest poddany system więziennictwa jako taki, a jedynie wizualny wymiar z nim związany. Architektura jest tutaj traktowana jako konsekwencja koncepcji odosobnienia i celów, jakim służy. Prezentowane rozważania osadzone są w wymiarze kulturowych założeń charak- terystycznych dla określonego regionu geograficznego (Europy, Ameryki Południowej i Północnej). Po- sługując się modelem Edgara Scheina (1990: 112), przydatnym do opisu kultury organizacyjnej, można odwołać się do pewnych założeń podstawowych leżących u fundamentów prawa karnego, realizowanych poprzez organizację instytucji totalnych funkcjonującą w danym kraju. Jest to zatem dobrze opisany w li- teraturze przedmiotu wpływ kultury narodowej na kulturę organizacji (Hofstede 2000; Hampden-Turner, Trompenaars 2000; Konecki, Chomczyński 2007). Warto jednak nadmienić, że przestrzeń więzienna nie jest jedynie wypadkową kręgu kulturowego, w który jest ona wpisana, lecz zależy od przeznaczenia i w związku z tym charakteru placówki penitencjarnej (stopień otwarcia/zamknięcia instytucji). Oznacza to, że w ramach tego samego państwa napotkać można odmienne sposoby zarządzania przestrzenią więźniów podporządkowane naczelnej funkcji jednostki. Ponadto, w jednym kraju mogą przecież istnieć zdecydowanie różne wobec siebie architektonicznie nowe i stare zakłady karne. Mimo tych zastrzeżeń, uczynienie z architektury głównego tematu rozważań ma sens, gdyż pozwala spojrzeć na standardy na- tury prawnej, etycznej czy filozoficznej, związane z karą odosobnienia, a realizowane poprzez fizyczne warunki izolacji skazanych.
Powracając do bazowego pytania, czemu służy kara, uważam, że warto poszukać na nie odpowiedzi w zabudowie więzień. Architektura obiektu i jego wnętrza więcej niekiedy mówi niż deklaracje polityczne odnoszące się do stosowania kary i celu pozbawienia wolności, a także godności osoby ludzkiej.

Currently, the architecture of prisons for women does not generally correspond to the needs and characteristics of the female prison population. This situation becomes more apparent in the light of the Bangkok Rules. Nevertheless, there have been remarkable improvements in this field, which, if applied on a large scale, would introduce relevant improvements in women's accommodation conditions.

Hasta bien entrado el siglo XX los proyectos para edificios penitenciarios se mantuvieron dentro de los lineamientos originados en los partidos arquitectónicos clásicos. Estos planteas, si bien habían evolucionado desde sus orígenes, resultaban inadecuados para las exigencias de la penología moderna. Durante la posguerra se profundizó la experimentación con nuevos modelos arquitectónicos junto con la incorporación de conceptos provenientes de la psicología ambiental, disciplina que estudia la relación entre el comportamiento humano y el ambiente. Resultado de esta evolución son los recientes proyectos de cárceles y prisiones conocidos como de "nueva generación" que parecen estar destinados a refonnular la concepción arquitectónico-operativa de los institutos penitenciarios y cuyo desarrollo y características se presentan a continuación.

The high incarceration rate of people from Indigenous cultures is a worldwide phenomenon. Disproportionately high numbers of Indigenous people are confined in prisons as a legacy of forced colonisation. There is a capacity for the design of prison facilities to have an impact on the prisoners’ experiences and outcomes. This paper examines  trends and recent projects in the design of prison facilities for Indigenous prisoners in the US, Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat). It reflects on the important considerations and summarises eight key
considerations for the design of carceral environments for Indigenous peoples.

Presentación ppt sobre las condiciones e influencias ambientales y psicológicas que inciden en el diseño de cárceles y prisiones. Proxémica, hacinamiento, dimensiones mínimas de las celdas, partidos arquitectónicos, capacidad de los establecimientos y Cpted son expuestos.

The high incarceration rate of people from Indigenous cultures is a worldwide phenomenon. Disproportionately high numbers of Indigenous people are confined in prisons as a legacy of forced colonisation. There is a capacity for the design of prison facilities to have an impact on the prisoners experiences and outcomes. This paper will examine some trends and recent projects in the design of prison facilities for Indigenous prisoners in the US, Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat). It reflects on the important considerations and summarises eight key considerations for the design of carceral environments for Indigenous peoples.

People with mental health issues are vastly overrepresented in the Australian prison system. This paper discusses the master planning and design of Ravenhall Correctional Centre in Victoria, Australia to increase outcomes for male prisoners living with physical, mental health disability and other conditions. Major innovations in the design of Ravenhall Correctional Centre have included a forensic mental health unit on site, and the master planning of the prison into separate communities with a variety of housing types to provide prisoners opportunities to experience various levels of self-care and greater autonomy. The prison was designed to increase feelings of wellness, to provide program and training spaces to service various groups, and to allow prisoners to experience greater levels of individual control. The project is discussed through an architectural lens to allow readers to understand the complexities of master planning and designing a major people-oriented, multi-faceted prison with a forensic mental health unit within the perimeter. The paper notes that large scale prisons may be designed in a more therapeutic manner where accommodation, facilities and programs can provide prisoners opportunities to connect with external environments, engage in meaningful activities and retain a level of autonomy and individual control. The integration of the forensic mental health unit means that greater numbers of prisoners are able to access in and outpatient services. The paper concludes that since the prison was commissioned in 2017, the prisoner cohort has changed, resulting in a deviation from the intended purpose of focusing on innovative programs for sentenced prisoners. This may have diminished the capacity for prisoners to effectively engage in the programs for which the prison was designed.

Historia del primer edificio penitenciario argentino, construido en Mendoza en 1865, cuyo proyecto tuvo claras influencias de la Cárcel Penitenciaria de Santiago de Chile, que a su vez estuvo inspirada en la célebre Penitenciaria de Filadelfia. Diferencias entre el partido radial y el panóptico.

The article tells the story of the Galfa tower in Milan, an icon building of the Italian postwar development.
The tower is now ruined behind the original curtain wall, and it is seeking for a new identity. The adaptive re-use of the
Galfa tower has been addressed by the final year students of the Polytechnic of Milan. Based on an on-site survey of
the building conditions, students have designed several hypothesis for this gigantic ruin that, maybe more than an post
industrial site, recalls the need of a sustainable urban development.

Juvenile detention centres (JDC) are undoubtedly difficult environments for both detainees who live
and staff who work in these facilities. Being such a difficult environment,  the question arises as
to whether or not the physical environment actually does make a difference (Wortley, 2002;
Fairweather, 2000). In this study, Affect Control Theory (ACT) (Heise, 1979), a theory previously
not applied to Environment-Behavior (EB) research, was employed to investigate this question in JDC
residential units.

ACT is a dynamic framework for understanding, explaining and researching social behaviour and
experience in settings (Heise, 1979). People’s interactions with the environment are conceptualized
as a reciprocal process in which people perceive and maintain meanings in the world around them. In
this thesis the ACT framework was developed for the investigation of the influence of the physical
environment in situations. This development culminated in the ACT Conceptual Architecture (ACTCA)
(Lulham, 2006).

Detainee and staff participants in actual JDC facilities completed a questionnaire based on the ACT
methods and the ACTCA model in the presence of one of three simulated JDC residential units. The
interior of the JDC residential units were simulated using the Immersive Image- based Environment
approach (IIE). Previously not used in EB field, IIE approach facilitated a
360 degree photographic quality representation of a physical space. A propensity score approach was
used with the quasi-experimental design to enhance the equivalence of the treatment groups,
increasing the reliability of the research design.

Investigated through various ANOVA techniques, the results of the research were fascinating and
indicated various mechanisms through which physical design may influence the functioning of JDC
residential units. Differences in physical design influenced perceptions of people in the
situations to a greater extent than behavioural expectations. ACT and ACTCA model provided
informative frameworks through which to interpret the results. Informative to the design and
operation of JDC facilities, the results were also interpreted more broadly in terms of
correctional design and Affect Control Theory. A proposal was developed of how affective control in
physical setting may be conceptualized within the ACT framework; the Affective Control in Physical
Settings framework (ACTCA). ACT is identified as a relevant explanatory framework for investigating
social interaction in places, and the ACT Conceptual Architecture (Lulham, 2006) may facilitate the
application of the theory to investigations of the
influence of the physical environment in numerous research contexts.

This paper investigates an approach to the use of fractals in architectural design. Two major aspects are discussed. First, the effect of the direction of the line segments on the generated fractal, as well as, the proportions between the generator and the initiator. Secondly, the meanings attached to the lines segments that constitute the fractal are based on some known architectural organization. The goal is to develop a basis for using fractals to suggest architectural forms.

En 1825 se realizó en Buenos Aires el primer proyecto sudamericano para un establecimiento penitenciario, que también fue el primer concurso de arquitectura pública efectuado en territorio argentino. En él se vieron expuestas las ideas arquitectónicas de Santiago Bevans, un olvidado especialista inglés en prisiones, como así también las influencias de Jeremías Bentham y de la notable Sociedad de Londres para la Mejora de la Disciplina en las Cárceles. El proyecto tuvo como impulsor a Bernardino Rivadavia, sin embargo las cuestiones políticas y la crisis derivada de la guerra con el Imperio del Brasil impidieron su realización.
In 1825 took place in Buenos Aires the first South American project for a prison, which was also the first public architectural competition held in Argentina. The architectural ideas of James Bevans, a forgotten English prison designer, were exposed as well as the influences of Jeremy Bentham and also the remarkable Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders. Bernardino Rivadavia drove the project, however political issues and the crisis caused by the war with the Empire of Brazil took it to failure.

Prison environments are typically inflexible to the cultural needs of particular groups and, Tn the light of what we know about cultural differences which the normal prison
organization does not allow for this  causes additional pain to particular groups.  Matching the prison environment to the cultural needs of the group through the provision of congruent, familiar and meaningful environments is one of the most important aspects of reducing the prisoner's stress levels. Aboriginal people often fare very poorly in prison environments: large numbers of Aboriginal prisoners enter the prison system with chronic illnesses, substance abuse problems, learning and cognitive disabilities and mental illness; the number of Aboriginal prisoners dying in prison custody continues to be unacceptably high; and as a group, Aboriginal prisoners continue to face multiple layers of social disadvantage.

In research conducted by the author, male Aboriginal people in South Australian prisons were interviewed to investigate their needs and preferences for prison accommodation. The participant group consisted of 55 Aboriginal prisoners from diverse Aboriginal language groups, who were incarcerated in five South Australian prisons. Participants' needs and preferences were investigated using a three-stage interview process. The methodology included gathering personal and incarceration details, and a directed choice experiment employing photographic sets and drawing techniques to elicit design preferences.

Many of the Aboriginal prisoners in the participant group, regardless of their language group, articulated common needs and preferences that could be translated into a number of themes. These themes included preference for prison environments which allowed the prisoner to stay connected to country, to maintain relationships with family and kin, to live within a specified social group, and to have privacy, safety and health needs met.

The design of environments for Australian Aboriginal offenders has always been problematic. The needs and concerns of Aboriginal prisons have been little understood and prison environments have often not served the needs of prisoners resulting in incidences of deaths in custody, self-harming and resistance behaviours. Australian Aboriginal prison populations continue to grow and the importance of providing custodial environments to meet the varying and diverse needs of these groups of prisoners is important. Within the fellowship I wished to view Indigenous custodial facilities across a number of countries to assess whether there were common needs and preferences among Indigenous prisoner populations and find innovation in prison design which could be applied to the Australian context.

This report documents that Indigenous prisoners in other countries have common concerns shared by many Australian Aboriginal prisoners. The prison location, the ability to live within a social group, staying in contact with family and community were all common concerns.

The normalisation of prison environments appears to have a major effect on the behaviour of prisoners within prisons. Theoretically it has been shown that normalising prison environments results in fewer instances of resistance behaviours (e.g. escapes, threatening behaviours, riots, suicides and self-harming behaviours) among prisoners. The level of critical incidences reported in Danish prisons was low. Within the design of prisons a variety of techniques were used to normalise prison environments successfully. These are underpinned by a legislative framework which ensures a minimum standard of prison accommodation.

The design of different types of Indigenous units has been pioneered in New Zealand and Canada successfully. These have involved specific design processes which allow Indigenous communities to partner with correctional agencies to achieve mutual aims and all have involved the incorporation of cultural knowledge into the design or later enculturation of the prison environment. There were some accompanying issues in the design of Indigenous specific facilities. Most had a minimum security classification excluding numbers of Indigenous prisoners and the issues of housing certain groups of prisoners was proving problematic at some sites. There is much that can learnt from these examples for application to the Australian context

The recently commissioned independent living units at Mobilong Prison on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in South Australia represent new innovations in Aus-tralian prison architecture. For the first time, medium-security inmates will be housed in self-contained duplex accommodations, a stark contrast to tradition-al cellblocks used under typical medium-security systems. Mobilong Prison is one of nine prisons operated by the Department for Correctional Services, South Australia, located throughout the region and housing a total average population of 1,500 inmates. South Australia's Department for Correctional Services provides a graduated prison sys-tem, with inmates progressing from high-to medium-to low-security prisons upon the completion of incentive-based programs targeting offending behavior. The new development site is about four miles from the city of Murray Bridge, which has a population of 17,000 and is located about 50 miles from Adelaide, the capital of South Australi...

It is often said that bushfires are a fact of life in Australia. While Australian communities will always be affected by the impacts of bushfires, there is an element of huniaii involvement that makes at least some bushfires avoidable. In Australia more bushfires are started by deliberate lighting than are caused by lightning or other natural sources. This creates an element of criniinality in relation to bushfires which includes the establishment of bushfire arson as a serious criminal offence. The author presents a motive-based typology of deliberately lit bushfires and argues that a greater understanding of the reasons why people light bushfires can help prevention, investigation and treatment of offenders.

This article examines the provision of television in the South Australian prison system and its importance to the identity, health, wellbeing and ontological security of Aboriginal prisoners. Existing research has explored the use of broadcast and print media by prisoners in the United Kingdom, United States and Europe and has established that television has an impact on incarcerated audiences far beyond its role as an ‘electronic babysitter’ or a means of filling time. It is also recognised that television plays a significant role in the lives of Aboriginal people (Michaels 1986). However, little is known about television in relation to incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. This article draws on data concerning in-cell television (‘TV’) among Aboriginal men in prison,1 which found that, when asked to identify the most important factors in the prison environment, 87 per cent of participants identified access to in-cell television as the single most important factor contributing to their congruency with prison accommodation. The article further indicates that access to in-cell television has the potential to reduce incidents of suicide and self-harm and should be adopted as a ‘best-practice’ principle for Aboriginal prisoners in Australian correctional environments.

In his (recently published) 1972-73 course at the Collège de France, Foucault dealt with the emergence of correctional imprisonment in 19th century Europe, tracing its roots back to the religious milieu of Puritanism. However, as shown by more recent scholarship, the phenomenon was already on its way two centuries earlier, when a number of institutions aimed at amending people’s behavior (bridewells, houses of correction, lettres de cachet) began to flourish throughout the continent. Beyond their differences, what they seemed to share was a common interest in the private good of the convicted rather than in the common good of society, as well as a closer attention to those acts that can be better described as moral misbehaviors (debauchery, idleness, adultery etc.) rather than as actual crimes.
I would thus argue that a relevant nurturing ground of this institutional constellation can be found in the traditional notion of fraternal correction and in its 16th and 17th centuries revision by Catholic theologians and preachers. As canonically defined since the writings of the Church Fathers, fraternal correction is the reciprocal duty of reproaching one’s neighbor with the purpose of reforming him or preventing him from sinning. However, mainly through the works of Counter-Reformation’s standard-bearers (especially, but not uniquely, those of Jesuits and Oratorians), the interpretation of fraternal correction underwent a process of “verticalization”, gradually becoming the sole responsibility of superiors towards inferiors – of fathers towards their sons, of prelates towards their flock, of princes toward their subjects. Within this context, the concept of correction was able to move from the religious domain to the secular one, designing a normative landscape that was quite different from the traditional one of penal punishment, and that was going to be the condition of possibility for the birth of the aforementioned correctional institutions.

Multi-agent systems underpin the vision for ambient intelligence. However, developing multi-agent systems is a complex and challenging process. For example, pervasive computing has been found susceptible to instability, due to unwanted behaviour arising from unplanned interaction between rule based agents. This instability is impossible to predict, as it depends on the rules of interaction, the initial state of the system, the user interaction, and in the time delay of the system (due to network traffic, different speed of processing, etc). In this paper we present a theoretical framework, an Interaction Network (IN), together with a communication locking strategy that we call INPRES (Instability Prevention System) that can be used to identify and eliminate this problem. In addition we describe a Multi-Dimensional Model (MDM) to represent the agents and the state of each agent over time. A theorem showing the role of delays in an unstable system is presented. We present experimental results based on simulations and a physical emulation that demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods. system) and the perturbations to the system (when the user interacts with the environment) add significant complexity to the dynamics or the system. However, it is possible to detect and prevent cyclic instability and we have developed and tested such a strategy, based on algorithms for finding loops in an Interaction Network and locking devices with the least functional impact on the performance of the system.

Individuals outside the Western domiciliary tradition may have insurmountable difficulties in prison environments. Although the varying and differing accommodation needs of Australian Aboriginal prisoners have been recognised since the 1800s, there is limited understandings of the unique environmental needs and preferences of Aboriginal prisoners. A lack of evidence based research has meant most understandings of the needs of Aboriginal prisoners have arisen in the course of coronial enquiries and royal commissions or have been gleamed from the first hand experiences of custodial and police officers or stakeholder consultations with Aboriginal groups.
Given the increasing rates of Indigenous incarceration and the poor outcomes of Aboriginal prisoners, greater meeting the environmental needs of Aboriginal prisoners is important, being a previously ignored issue.
This paper presents the findings from the first empirical study of the needs and preferences of Aboriginal prisoners in custody. Data for the research was gathered by studying five South Australian prisons and conducting a series of interviews with 55 male Aboriginal prisoners incarcerated within them.
The results suggest that prison environments should move from being designed within philosophies of segregation and separation to recognising a number of common environmental preferences shared by various groups of Aboriginal prisoners. These include the importance of Aboriginal domiciliary practices, lifestyles structured around the social group and the need to maintain connections to country and kin for all Aboriginal prisoners. The paper presents new understandings of the environmental needs of Aboriginal prisoners which have significance to the design and provision of custodial accommodation and understanding the impact of the prison environment on Aboriginal prisoners.

Heatwaves are a major public health concern causing more fatalities than any other natural hazard. In Australian prisons, extreme temperatures have been recorded and heat related deaths have occurred. While some countries have identified ‘optimum’ thermal conditions for custodial accommodation, there are no national thermal standards, guidelines or recommendations for the design of custodial environments and management of prisoners. This article examines the existing national and international literature to demonstrate that prisoners are a poorly identified subgroup of the population ‘at risk’ of heat-related illnesses. Thermal conditions within prisons and other types of custodial accommodation across Australia vary considerably. This article finds that even if current thermal comfort standards were employed, the prison environments may not be safe or suitable as current methods of devising thermal comfort standards for buildings are flawed as the standards do not take into account...

Theme: Visualizing Justice: Critical Perspectives on Visibility, Law, and Order
Date: May 7-9, 2015
Location: Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies (CIJS), University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Call for Participation: The Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies (CIJS) in conjunction with the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Winnipeg invites abstract submissions, exhibition proposals and other academic, practice-based or creative presentations for our annual justice conference. The 2015 conference will focus on justice and its relations to visuality and visibility.

Visualizing Justice builds on the momentum established in 2009 when the CIJS hosted its inaugural Theorizing Justice conference. This was followed by Practicing Justice in 2010, Questioning Justice in 2011, Securing Justice in 2012, and Educating Justice in 2014. In 2015, the CIJS will continue this interdisciplinary dialogue and focus the conversation on visual aspects of justice in all forms.

Theme: We wish to open the focus up to multiple views on justice, visuality, and visibility. Visuality and visibility are two of the most significant concepts of the last decade across the humanities and social sciences. Our definitions of justice, visuality, and visibility are broad and inclusive. We welcome paper submission, posters, multi-media presentations, reflections, research, exhibitions and performances on justice, visuality, and visibility. We seek academic contributions as well as photographic and cinematic exposures of the following approaches to justice and visibility including but not limited to: social justice; ecological justice; anarchic justice; indigenous justice; urban justice; human rights and justice; works on surveillance; the role of sight in criminal justice; media representations of law; order and justice more broadly; the use of visual methods in the justice disciplines; the visuality of forensics and justice practice; and any other work that engages the theme.

Disciplines: The Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies is housed in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Winnipeg. We invite submissions from all disciplines and orientations that impact upon justice, visuality, and visibility including submissions from disciplines and inter-disciplines in the arts, social sciences and humanities.

Format: In addition to individual papers or presentations, we invite proposals for complete sessions. The program committee welcomes innovative program themes and presentations including discussions, films, artistic exhibits, roundtables, pre-circulated papers or other presentations and/or displays that fit with the theme. Our desire is to create a site for academic, artistic, and professional encounters.

Location and Accommodations: Educating Justice is held at University of Winnipeg. Accommodation is available just steps away at Holiday Inn Downtown.

Submission Procedures: Proposals for panels and other thematic sessions should be submitted electronically no later than January 30, 2015. Individual paper submissions will be accepted up to March 30, 2015 on a rolling basis. Click here to submit a proposal.

Proposals must include: 1) A complete mailing address, email, phone number, and affiliation (if applicable) for each participant; 2) An abstract of not more than 500 words for sessions and/or an abstract of not more than 250 words for individual paper presentations

This thesis presents the first empirical study into the accommodation needs of Australian Aboriginal prisoners in prison custody. The over-representation of Aboriginal people in the Australian prison system is increasing and the continuing deaths of Aboriginal peoples in prison custody by suicide are an important national issue. Previous prison studies have not addressed all of the issues surrounding this problem. Although the varying and differing accommodation needs of Aboriginal prisoners have been recognised since the 1800s, there is a limited understanding of the relationship between the prison environment and the rates of suicide among Aboriginal prisoners. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the issues and present findings which may contribute to the creation of prison environments which reduce stress levels, and may in turn decrease rates of suicide among Aboriginal prisoners. The research investigates the prison environment for the Aboriginal prisoner from a people-environments approach, locates the act of suicide among a series of behaviours which may occur in response to an environment incongruent with the needs of users. These responses are influenced by a complex of personal, environmental and institutional factors. Data for the research was gathered by studying five South Australian prisons and conducting a series of interviews with 55 male Aboriginal prisoners incarcerated within them. The prisons were documented using observations, interviews with staff and prisoners, photographic surveys and environmental walkthroughs. Both the accommodation standards, and the responsibility to provide those standards by the Department for Correctional Services (South Australia), are examined. The needs and preferences of the subject group were investigated using a three-stage interview process which included gathering personal and incarceration profiles, a forced choice experiment employing photographic sets and a number of drawing exercises to elicit design preferences. The results present a picture of the Aboriginal prison population in South Australia and their design needs. It shows that there are commonalities among the Aboriginal prisoner population in that they are relatively young, have relatively large numbers of children and are dependent on other family members for stability outside the prison environment. Aboriginal people display non-complaint and resistance behaviours and are consequently segregated at an alarming rate in South Australian prisons. The research identifies that prison environments in South Australia are often incongruent with the needs of Aboriginal prisoners. The thesis presents the argument for prison environments to move from being designed within philosophies of segregation and separation to recognising the importance of Aboriginal domiciliary practices, lifestyles structured around the social group and the need to maintain connections to country for all Aboriginal prisoners. The need for prison environments to take into account the identity and spirituality of Aboriginal prisoners is highlighted. The thesis yields further understandings on the design of prison environments for Aboriginal prisoners and will stimulate debate on incarcerating Aboriginal people in a Western tradition.

Multi-agent systems underpin the vision for ambient intelligence. However, developing multi-agent systems is a complex and challenging process. For example, pervasive computing has been found susceptible to instability, due to unwanted behaviour arising from unplanned interaction between rule based agents. This instability is impossible to predict, as it depends on the rules of interaction, the initial state of the system, the user interaction, and in the time delay of the system (due to network traffic, different speed of processing, etc). In this paper we present a theoretical framework, an Interaction Network (IN), together with a communication locking strategy that we call INPRES (Instability Prevention System) that can be used to identify and eliminate this problem. In addition we describe a Multi-Dimensional Model (MDM) to represent the agents and the state of each agent over time. A theorem showing the role of delays in an unstable system is presented. We present experimental...

Heatwaves are a major public health concern causing more fatalities than any other natural hazard.  In Australian prisons, extreme temperatures have been recorded and heat related deaths have occurred.  While some countries have identified ‘optimum’ thermal conditions for custodial accommodation, there are no national thermal standards, guidelines or recommendations for the design of custodial environments and management of prisoners.  This article examines the existing national and international literature to demonstrate that prisoners are a poorly identified subgroup of the population ‘at risk’ of heat-related illnesses. 

Thermal conditions within prisons and other types of custodial accommodation across Australia vary considerably.  This article finds that even if current thermal comfort standards were employed, the prison environments may not be safe or suitable as current methods of devising thermal comfort standards for buildings are flawed as the standards do not take into account the needs of vulnerable users.  Given that heatwaves are likely to increase in frequency and duration; devising ‘best practice’ thermal comfort data for the needs of vulnerable users is paramount.  Furthermore, the consideration of the thermal design of custodial environments is an important policy, management and design issue that deserves attention in the interests of public and prisoner health both in Australia and internationally.

The high incarceration rate of people from Indigenous cultures is a worldwide phenomenon. Disproportionately high numbers of Indigenous people are confined in prisons as a legacy of forced colonisation. There is a capacity for the design of prison facilities to have an impact on the prisoners experiences and outcomes. This paper will examine some trends and recent projects in the design of prison facilities for Indigenous prisoners in the US, Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat). It reflects on the important considerations and summarises eight key considerations for the design of carceral environments for Indigenous peoples.

Walking through the recently opened West Kimberley Regional Prison created by TAG Architects in association with Iredale Pedersen Hook Architects (IPH), one is struck by the sensitivity and thoughtfulness applied to every facet of the planning and design. This is not a typical prison, in any sense of the word. Absent are the visible security elements, high walls, bars and heavy building materials that so commonly dominate prison architecture. Instead, the West Kimberley Regional Prison has a sense of openness. The lightweight, domestic-scale buildings reflect the rugged Kimberley landscape. This is a prison that is designed, as much as is possible, to be welcoming for the prisoner and visitor alike.

The project evolved to address the specific needs of a marginalized Aboriginal prison population. Until recently, the Kimberley region was serviced by only one prison. The prison population was 95 percent Indigenous and the prison itself substandard. As well as being housed in poor and overcrowded conditions, Aboriginal prisoners were often forced to serve sentences outside their own country, which decreased the amount of contact they had with their family and community, causing great emotional and spiritual distress. A new prison was conceived to keep Kimberley Aboriginal people on their country and to meet cultural and environmental needs.

Constant shrinkage in the device dimensions has resulted in very dense memory cells. The probability of occurrence of multiple bit errors is much higher in very dense memory cells. Conventional Error Correcting Codes (ECC) cannot correct multiple errors in memories even though many of these are capable of detecting multiple errors. This paper presents a novel decoding algorithm to detect and correct multiple errors in memory based on Matrix Codes. The algorithm used is such that it can correct a maximum of eleven errors in a 32-bit data and a maximum of nine errors in a 16-bit data. The proposed method can be used to improve the memory yield in presence of multiple-bit upsets. It can be applied for correcting burst errors wherein, a continuous sequence of data bits are affected when high energetic particles from external radiation strike memory, and cause soft errors. The proposed technique performs better than the previously known technique of error detection and correction using Matrix Codes.