Prison Re[Form] x Adaptive Reuse

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Thesis statement:

This project proposes the repurposing of commissioned oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico to explore a new contemporary prison model that challenges the current incarceration philosophy in the US.

THE IDEA OF THE PRISON

The prison appears so intrinsically in our imaginations that it is readily accepted as an integral part of the criminal justice system. However, before the 18th century, the prison was only one part of a larger system of punishment. In contemporary times, there are four main justifications for the institution of a prison: incapacitation, deterrence, retribution and reformation. However, it is clear that our expectations of the prison and the reality of incarceration is paradoxical and contradictory.

PRISON  REFORM

One model of imprisonment is the “full-wage prison” which has become institutionalized in many Scandinavian countries. A “factory with a fence” where the prisoner earns roughly as much as he would if he were free, and from his earnings meets the cost of his room and board, compensates the victims of his crime, supports his dependents, and saves for his release (Morris and Rothman, 1995). However, in most advanced countries, there is little productive work for prisoners to do, which results in an a persistent condition of idleness that reveals the inefficiency within the contemporary prison system.

PROPOSED SITE + CONTEXT

The project will be situated on the oil fields in the waters of the US portion of the Gulf of Mexico. At its peak, there were 4,500 oil rig platforms. However, the depletion of shallow fields and the evolution of technology have pushed exploration into further and deeper waters, resulting in a rapid decommissioning effort of non-producing platforms in the last decade. In 2013 alone, the decommissioning market was estimated to be valued at US$30-40 billion (DecomWorld, 2013).

ECOLOGICAL CONCERNS

The Gulf of Mexico also faces serious ecological issues which include a 6,662 mile (17,353 km) “dead zone”, an area of low oxygen caused by the nutrient rich runoff that discharges from the Mississippi River Basin. The excess of nutrients causes a rapid accumulation of algal blooms, which grow quickly, but have a short lifespan. This results in a high concentration of dead organic matter which consumes dissolved oxygen in the water and creates hypoxic conditions. Without sufficient dissolved oxygen, marine life and plants die off in large numbers.

The intention is to derive a productive architecture that takes advantage of the opportunities created by decommissioned oil rigs on two scales: by reimagining the contemporary prison model as a single unit, and by integrating the prison unit into a larger production system intended to clean up the dead zone and mitigate flood in the Gulf of Mexico.  The project will explore the oil rig + prison configuration in the Gulf of Mexico as a way to create productive work for prisoners and reposition the contemporary prison as a place of useful and meaningful production.

I. Revitalize decommissioned oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico

II.Challenge the contemporary prison model and reposition as a place of productivity.

III.Cleaning up the “Dead Zone” (area of hypoxia in the Gulf) as “productive work for the prisoners

IV.Explore mega-scale flood mitigation systems using existing system of non-producing oil platforms and pipelines.