FEATURED POST

First Third Of 2024 In Saudi Arabia: Executions Rise By 189% And Portend Another Bloody Year. At Least 71 Currently Facing Execution.

Image
Since the beginning of 2024 until the end of April, the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced the execution of 55 individuals. This figure constitutes a 189% increase compared to the executions in the first third of 2023, which witnessed 19 executions. The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights views these numbers as a clear indication of the Saudi government's continued approach towards executing and issuing death sentences, and that the promises made in recent years have become elusive.

US prisons, under the guise of security concerns, isolate and punish people in ways that much of the rest of the world considers barbaric

Death row cell, Polunsky Unit, Texas
Death row cell, Polunsky Unit, Texas
The Quakers were among the first Americans to devise the idea of solitary confinement based on the notion that a life of quiet contemplation was the best way to help people improve their moral character. Inmates went through meals and work in complete silence, with only the Bible to feed their thoughts. The word "penitentiary" comes from the root of the word "penance," reflecting the original attitude that isolation was a way to rehabilitate.

Today, thanks to modern technology, entire super-maximum security prisons are built where human contact is strictly limited and the idea of rehabilitation is almost entirely absent. The use of solitary confinement has become a topic of humanitarian concern, with both the United Nations and Amnesty International condemning America's reliance on the practice, which violates international human rights norms and, they argue, constitutes torture. Psychologists agree that even just a few days in solitary can lead to an array of health and psychological problems, but America's prisons, under the guise of security and safety concerns, continue to isolate and punish people in ways that much of the rest of the world considers barbaric.

This is exactly what Raphael Sperry, president of Architects/ Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility wants to emphasize in his new movement to urge the American Institute of Architects to prohibit architects from designing spaces designed for solitary confinement as well as execution chambers.

Sperry's proposed regulation doesn't prohibit the design of all prisons, just ones that violate human rights. But is there even such a thing as a well-designed prison?

Architect Glen Stantaya has designed what he calls a "PriSchool," described on his website as a "prison + school" hybrid to allow non-violent inmates access to rehabilitative programs and otherwise encourage the kind of behavior that will prevent them from returning to prison again. Sperry points to Scandinavian countries, where guards and inmates eat side-by-side. The expectation, he says, is that prisons are part of the community — the inmates could be you or me. While he doesn't seem overly optimistic that such prisons will be built in the U.S. anytime soon, Sperry does think that by encouraging architects to think about the ethical meaning of the spaces they are building, they will be forced to become more creative and have an impetus to solve the problem of how to care for the nation's convicted offenders in a more humane way.


Source: The Week, Jessica Pishko, January 4, 2015

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

First Third Of 2024 In Saudi Arabia: Executions Rise By 189% And Portend Another Bloody Year. At Least 71 Currently Facing Execution.

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

Mississippi | Biloxi man gets death penalty for torture, murder of toddler

Cruel and Unusual: Documentary explores epicenter of Texas’ prison system

Saudi authorities agree to postpone execution of Kenyan national

Tennessee | New law allows death penalty for child rape