The Act of Punishment

Perceiving imprisonment throughout history, the act of punishment has changed from a dungeon of torture to an environment of controlled confinement. 'Good or die' has become 'good or to-become-good', through which physical boundaries evolved from thick fortified labyrinths to large courtyards and control towers within.

I want to extend this evolution and introduce the prison as a self-maintaining entity. It operates as a machine, where a technologically driven system of total control replaces the presence of human guards. Cells hold the individual prisoners; arteries provide transport of prisoners, food and mail and the heart of the building contain spaces of common use. The process of rehabilitation is physically integrated in a layered structure of cells. The inner layer generates the start of this process, the most outer layer triggers limited engagement with the city to ultimately eject prisoners on the street as 'cured' individuals. Life sentenced prisoners are kept in the top of the building; short sentences are served in the bottom.

With a fixed footprint of 100x100 meters, the height of each prison expresses the national account of imprisonment. Size matters, the quantity of prisoners is equal to the size of the prison. Where the prison is huge in times of crisis, it will diminish in times of prosperity. On a global scale, the collection of these entities acts as a comparative diagram on imprisonment and the status of 'evil'.

>>...a plan is in progress...