From Nagle to now: developments in Australian prison architecture

It is over 30 years since the release of the findings of the Nagle Royal Commission. The findings constituted a watershed in Australian penal history and signified the beginning of a period of significant reform in Australian prisons. Flowing on from the Nagle Royal Commission, a number of Australian prison systems became the subject of official inquiries into allegations of systemic abuse of prisoners and the conditions of confinement. As a result the governments of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the Northern Territory embarked upon comprehensive building programs to replace older prisons and to implement modern programs in prison management. Other states and territories followed suit at later times. There has been a paucity of research into the development of prison design in Australia. This paper will discuss the various architectural innovations which were introduced post Nagle which transformed Australian prison environments. The early post Nagle innovations tended to be uncritical emulations of the latest overseas concepts, and this paper will discuss the introduction of unit management, secure perimeter barriers, campus planning and podular design to Australian prisons. Innovations outside the ‘one size fits all’ approach were later developed by prison designers for the Australian context. Innovations include safe cell technologies, ‘women specific’ approaches, the use of cottage style accommodation, developments in the design of gatehouses and specific facilities for Aboriginal prisoners by various correctional jurisdictions. The paper notes that while there have been some remarkable advances in Australian prison architecture in the last thirty years there remain major challenges for the production of prison environments which do the least harm to those who are securely housed within them.Elizabeth Granthttp://www.deakin.edu.au/arts-ed/shss/events/anzsoc2011/index.ph