Photo by Susan Madden Lankford
After successfully creating one in Maine, architects in New Hampshire are working with the Department of Corrections to design a new $38 million state prison for 224 women, and unlike most women’s prisons around the country, these two facilities are designed for the particular needs of women inmates. Twelve years ago, the architect planning the New Hampshire facility designed the women’s unit at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, Maine. That unit, which houses minimum- and medium-security inmates, is considered a national model for gender-responsive prison design.
For more than 20 years, feminist researchers and activists have been re-thinking treatment programs at women’s prisons, which too often merely replicated what was offered in larger men’s prisons. Unlike male inmates, 90 percent of women who end up behind bars have histories of sexual and domestic abuse. They’re also more likely to suffer from mental illness and addiction. So researchers began advocating a “gender responsive” approach to female incarceration: programs and officer training that take into account women inmates’ histories of trauma.
Fully 66 percent of women in the New Hampshire prison system are receiving mental health treatment, versus only 35 percent of the men. Nationally, 25 to 50 percent of female prisoners report childhood abuse. Last year 108 NH male prisoners struck staffers or injured other inmates–vs. zero female prisoners.
According to New Hampshire Deputy Commissioner of Corrections, Bill McGonagle:
Our new women’s prison’s housing units will look out over a large outdoor area with security fences concealed, so as you look around the courtyard, it won’t be obvious that’s where you are.
Women will have keys to their rooms, and in an open lounge area they can watch TV on upholstered couches with wood coffee tables. It is believed that soft materials and natural light are important aspects of making this a natural environment, so as opposed to the clanging metal doors in most prisons, this facility will have quiet wood doors, avoiding stress for trauma survivors.
The new environment will make it easier for prisoners to focus on anger management, personal healing and community college classes. Getting equal access to those kinds of educational opportunities brought about the building of this new women’s prison in New Hampshire in the first place. The current women’s prison in Goffstown doesn’t have space for vocational or educational classes.
McGonagle believes that strengthening relationships among the inmates is one of the goals of the gender-responsive approach. He hopes open spaces inside the building will encourage interaction. While routines at men’s prisons usually discourage inmates from interacting with each other, “women want to be more relational,” McGonagle says, “and their connections with other women is one of their strengths.”
Alyssa Benedict, who consults with prisons on gender-responsive programming, warns:
A prison with more open spaces requires more and better-trained officers. You have to train your staff to understand female development, how they relate to each other, and how to as a staff member insert yourself in a skillful way to create safety.
The NH corrections department has requested increased personnel for the new prison, but that will be subject to future legislative budget debates. New Hampshire lawmakers funded the new women’s prison after decades of debate over parity for women inmates. Previously, incarcerated women had lacked access to vocational classrooms, science classrooms, regular education classrooms and recreation.
Construction crews break ground on August 18, 2014, and the prison is slated to open in October 2016.
