In the 1840s, England experienced rapid industrialization and urbanization, leading to innovative architectural designs, including Pentonville prison. Lauded for its K-shaped architecture and solitary cells, Pentonville became the prototype for 90 prisons in subsequent years, emphasizing inmate reformation and crime suppression. However, many Victorian prisons remain in operation today, struggling with overcrowding, violence, and outdated facilities. This historical design, once considered progressive, is now inadequate for addressing contemporary issues such as drug smuggling and inmate safety, highlighting a disconnect between past solutions and present realities in the penal system.
Among the proliferation of inventions, a new type of building was unveiled to the world. A prison, K-shaped with long corridors made of sure, thick walls, and small windows in cold, solitary cells. The design of Pentonville was heralded by the fashionable print media of the day.
Incredibly, 31 of the jails still in operation in England and Wales were built by the Victorians. They house about 22,000 prisoners, a quarter of the prison population.
#victorian-prisons #prison-design #incarceration-crisis #industrial-revolution #historical-architecture
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