The Most Disturbing Prison In The Universe

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I'm Dami, a licensed Architect living in Vancouver, BC. I make videos about architecture, career, and creativity.

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A NOLLISTUDIO/NOLLIMEDIA Production

00:00 INTRO
01:19 The Panopticon - Background, Concept and Influence
02:28 Solitary Confinement Units
03:11 White Torture
04:54 Controversy of Prison Design
06:21 A different kind of prison (Halden, Norway)
07:10 Normality
07:38 US vs. Norway
08:22 Norway before the new program
09:10 Layout Typologies
10:57 The New Model

#starwars #andor #halden #architecture #scifi

In this video segment, a fictional prison from the show "ANDOR" is described as a disturbing labor-focused facility, holding up to 5000 inmates in work teams, assembling unknown mechanical parts. The prison's architecture incorporates control mechanisms, like lethal floors and constant surveillance illusions, fostering obedience. The video contrasts various prison philosophies and designs, exploring the balance between punishment and rehabilitation. It discusses the panopticon concept, solitary confinement's psychological effects, and the ethical dilemmas in prison architecture, highlighting the role of architecture in exerting psychological control over inmates. The video concludes by examining Halden Prison in Norway, which focuses on rehabilitation and normalcy, contrasting sharply with traditional punitive systems.

[Neox]

I'm so glad you mentioned Norway. Our prison system has caught so much flak from other countries. Notably comedians from America. The prison director of Halden once said in an interview "Who do you want living as your neighbour? A person that's been treated like a dog for 10 years, or someone that got help with their addiction, financial troubles, mental health and treated with dignity?"

[CKism]

Complicating the issue of jails in Los Angeles is the fact that a pretty significant percentage of inmates have severe mental illness. Our jail system has been referred to as the largest mental health hospital in the world but the problem is, it isn't set up to be a hospital. California shut down most of the hospitals and asylums because they became places where people were being inhumanely warehoused but instead of community based models filling the gap, prisons became the answer for now. Great video and really key to understanding the power of architecture to foster relationships.

[tuckert]

one thing about the prison in andor having windows is that it proves to the prisoners that there are others competing against them. otherwise they might not believe that they are actually competing and won’t work as hard

[ohokay]

whenever i think about prison and recidivism, i think about experiencing school as an autistic kid.
In middle school, I would sometimes get so overwhelmed i'd stay in a bathroom stall for an entire class period. They would send me to ISS for skipping class, but I kept having to skip classes. All ISS did was stress me out about my attendance, make me more stressed, and i'd have more and more meltdowns that I felt the need to contain privately.
In high school, my 504 counselor (who was much more competent than my IEP counselor in middle school) helped me build a system where I could communicate with my teachers and do my work in the guidance office, where I could be supervised in a relaxed environment and get my work done.
When you punish bad behavior, you lose the chance to fix the issue at it's source.

[kriegjaeger]

I recall hearing of a prison where everyone was given a cat to care for. Many of them began to grow empathy and responsibility in caring for their cats and those who abused cats were dealt with severely, by the other inmates.

[morecents]

I can appreciate the crossover from architecture to philosophy, human rights, and psychology

[C.Brown]

The American prison system isn't designed for rehabilitation nor do they care about rehabilitation.. The system is designed for a person to fail when they are released from prison.. The lack of employment, housing and a Probation/Parole Department's aren't going to help anyone to stay out .. But they'll sure as hell will help you go back..

[tyrnanreply]

its insane that private companies can own prisons and make profit off of cheap prison labor it is literally slavery and I do not think anyone deserves that

[garyvn]

I worked in "Corrections" at the national level in Canada for many years. This analysis is one of the best that I have ever seen.
Prisons, at best, 'incapacitate' as Dami said, they (in most of the world) do not rehabilitate, and are, in fact, a very expensive way of making a 'bad' man worse.
Great work Dami.

[TimTeboner]

One neat thing that often gets overlooked when people discuss Bentham's panopticon design is that, not only can the whole thing theoretically be managed by a single guard in the centre tower (since no prisoner knows if they're being watched at any time, they must assume that they are), but that eventually you can remove even that one guard, and the behaviour of the prisoners should remain the same, since they don't know there's literally no one watching anymore, and they still must assume the eyes are on them at any moment.

[SneakyMawwfaka]

I've been so impressed by your content over the years. Expanding the concept of 'just architecture' to all these philosophies etc. I've been following you for a long time and it's been a joy to see the growth and a pleasure to watch.

Thank you!

[space_cakes]

In Singapore, the punishment cells in prison only have a hole in the floor that functions as a toilet and the only water source. The lights are left on 24/7 and you sleep on the ground next to the toilet on concrete. Meals come blended like a smoothie making even the food not something to look forward to a lot of people come out loosing 30 to 50 pounds.

[meakimon]

My brother served a sentence in a Norwegian prison, and it was low security which is pretty lax. My aunt told him that she heard that Bastøy was like a vacation resort, with barely any rules or guards. And wondered if he wanted to be sent there instead of (iirc) Larvik Prison.

My brother very gently, but firmly shut her down. He said that Bastøy is strictly regulated, by the inmates. You have access to chainsaws and lots of power-tools. And the inmates have an innate hierarchy that makes sure that other new inmates don't "ruin the status quo" for the rest of them. So while it looks chill, it's pretty stressful.

[HeribertoEstolano]

12:31 It wouldn't be the First Time in the Star Wars unniverse that an Architectural/Engeneering "flaw" was implemented intentionally by someone in order to sabotage the Empire from the inside. Ironically, both stories featuring this have Cassian Andor in it.

[Henoik]

Damn, I did not expect you to mention Norway's prson system here. It's important to note that the only thing special about Halden is it's facilities. The principles and freedoms of the inmates are similar, if not broader, in other Norwegian prisons.

[SwagnerCountsThings]

I never thought i would be into architecture, but ive been binging your videos the past few days

[TheHoney_Badger]

I just did 43 months in federal prison in Seattle Washington. One of the hardest parts for me was the complete separation from nature, it was a multistory building with no access to an outside yard and frosted windows inside the cells. Also there were no real programs to help people work on themselves. One of the worst experiences of my life, alot of days of nothing but suicidal thoughts, thank God I made it through and I'm doing great now.

[platedlizard]

at one point i worked at an endangered bird breeding center in Hawaii that was a repurposed prison on Maui. the prison had been shut down in the 80s and just barely remodeled to accommodate the birds and staff caring for them as of 2005). it still had most of the old prison fixtures, including the solitary confinement cells near the watchtower. Solitary was the designated storm shelter for the birds, if there was a bad storm or wildfire that cut the center off the birds and staff would move into the hole. Solitary was absolute hell, even being there for half an hour a week to check on the airline kennels and clean and dust was stressful. the smallest sound echoed horribly. We all hated it, and i was glad we never needed to use it while i was there. Even though the facility was no longer used by the prison system and the only people there were employees of the conservation program that room had an impact on you. i can only imagine what living in one for days or months would be like

[Davincibeats]

I lived in prison for only 30 days. At that time, I already had psychotic depression (a depression so deep that you have psychotic symptoms).

From the moment I entered, I felt deprived of dignity and respect. Keep in mind, I was in because of very minor offences. There was, however, no distinction between varying levels of criminality. I was in the same cell block as convicted murderers, rapists, robbers, etc.. My mental health deteriorated extremely quickly. Within 2 weeks, my psychosis had gotten so bad that I started to believe that someone had a hit out on me. My anti-psychotic meds were also upped 4X from when I first entered. After I left, the effects from living in jail persisted for a long time afterwards. I was only in for 30 days. I can only imagine the level of (most likely permanent) psychological damage I would have accrued if I had stayed for multiple months or even years.

I was lucky enough to have enough financial support and a welfare system that is a lot better than America's (Canadian) that helps those with mental illness weave through the court system. That being said, prison/jail is in no way a form of rehabilitation. It is a form of punishment, designed to strip any self-respect and dignity a person may have.

I firmly believe in the concept of rehabilitation rather than punishment, as Norway has been doing for the past couple of decades. I was lucky and smart enough to seek help and am now functioning with barely any symptoms. This can't be said, however, for the vast majority of people. Recidivism rates are very high in Canada, too. And at some point, you become institutionalized.

It is a part of capitalism to seek profits and only focus on the short term. Long term plans are on the backburner of a purely capitalist society. Norway and the other Scandinavian countries are actually social democracies, who are not overruled by the corporations and corporate greed in the same way America (the beacon of capitalism) is. Things such as huge differences in recidivism rates prove this, as well as the huge gap in incarceration rates between the US and Norway.

There are a small minority of criminals who are not able to be rehabilitated safely, such as psychopaths, sociopaths, and child sex offenders. For the vast majority of criminals, though, rehabilitation is and should be the only solution to solving the problem.

[CarlytheQueenofChaos]

Let's not tell her about the SCP faundation.