Prison: A metaphorical city of reformation

The idea and the intent of this thesis is how an architecture embodies the contemporary philosophy of reformation  to create a facsimile of life like on the outside. Along with other aspects of reformation helping the convicted prisoners and therefore spatial structure of the new prison using the metaphor of a small urban city but not taking away the sense of punishment and cells. Exploring the idea of the prison built as a city, because both the prison and the city are often assumed to be relatively bounded places, prisons arguably resembling self-sufficient cities with facilities contained within their walls, with a focus on reformation and its philosophy. It will simulate a city so that the prisoners can consider themselves part of society. The thesis therefore aims at implementing a philosophy of reformation required for the current Indian context and the Architectural manifestation required for the rehabilitative and reformation task of the prisoners. The site selected was Ahmedabad central jail, Gujarat.

 Although often criticized for being especially liberal in its approach to crime and punishment, this thesis focuses intensely on ensuring that ”doing time” is done in a dignified way, and inmates’ sentence should be a dress rehearsal for living a life without crime once they have completed their sentence. The on-going debate about prisons as a form of architecture, concerns the question of what the goal of incarceration really is: punishment or rehabilitation? This prison was designed as a middle-ground between hard and soft punishment: an attempt to forefront the notion that although convicted criminals have had their liberties revoked, they are on their way to recover through the prison system.