Dirty Work: The Ethical Dilemmas of Designing Better Prisons

Yvonne Jewkes, Professor of Criminology, University of Bath

In this presentation, professor of criminology and prison design expert, Yvonne Jewkes, will offer a very personal account of her work, asking whether there is such a thing as a ‘clean’ prison, morally speaking. And what of Yvonne’s own role as someone who has helped to design several custodial institutions around the world, with the aim of making them rehabilitative rather than punitive? Where do the boundaries lie for any of us engaged in research that has a reformist agenda, between trying to improve the lives of society’s most marginalised and damaged people, and simply perpetuating the institution of the prison but with softer edges?

Drawing on her forthcoming memoir, An Architecture of Hope: Reimagining the Prison, Restoring a House, Rebuilding Myself, Yvonne will talk honestly about her work, and will discuss how she treads a careful path between wanting to contribute to the better design of prisons, and wishing she could banish them altogether. She will also describe her involvement in a design-and-construction project that caused her to re-think the ethical dimensions of her work, and reappraise where her personal ‘red lines’ should be drawn. 

The Seminar Series

The Sociology and Social Anthropology Seminar Series (Allmänna seminariet) invites international and national researchers to present and discuss on-going research. Each presenter talks for about an hour, followed by about an hour's discussion.

Find more research seminars in this series at soc.lu.se/en/research/sociology-and-social-anthropology-seminar-series.

While the Department of Sociology is in the temporary locked building any outside visitors to our open seminars will be let in five minutes before the stated time through door C, on the carpark side of the house.

All are welcome including students!