03 Abolish Carceral Spaces

Design Justice demands we cease the design of all punitive carceral spaces targeting Black, Brown, Indigenous & Asian bodies and instead create spaces of restorative justice.

The carceral system is a form of social control that largely fails to prevent crime, rehabilitate or contribute to societal well-being. Prisons, jails, detention centers, and police stations are spaces of punishment that inflict harm and extraction on Black, Brown and Indigenous bodies far beyond that of other communities. 

Black, Brown and Indigenous communities are directly targeted through significantly harsher sentencing and policing even when actual crime rates are equivalent in White communities. In the US, where crime is below the international average, disproportionately harsh penalties for crimes, misdemeanors, or even no proven crime has created the highest incarceration rate in the world. In addition, formerly incarcerated individuals are discriminated against in access to housing, food, education, employment and voting; leading to a cycle of re-carceration of almost 83% of those released.

The carceral system is supported outside of the walls of jails and prisons. The prison industrial complex is predicated upon a permanent class of incarcerated people whose existence and labor is extracted against their will to maximize profit and maintain White dominance in society.

Designers must cease the design of prisons, jails, detention centers, and police stations as well as police offices and disciplinary spaces within all public and private building types. Replace spaces that normalize and perpetuate our society’s culture of punishment with spaces for restoration and healing that humanize rather than criminalize. Build systems of safety from community trust and care. As employers and creators of community resources, restore agency to those traumatized by the carceral state to end the cycle of incarceration.