Description

Should architecture be used for punishment? How might the spaces we inhabit nurture or damage us? How can we begin to start over after the worst has happened?

Criminologist Yvonne Jewkes grapples with these questions every day as the world’s leading expert on rehabilitative prison design; she also faces them in her personal life when her partner of 25 years leaves her in the middle of a nightmare renovation project and then lockdown sees her trapped there.

Used to fighting the punitive prison system to create spaces that encourage reflection, healing, even hope for those incarcerated, she must learn to be similarly compassionate to herself, as she considers what might help someone at the lowest point in their life to rebuild.

There are 11.5 million prisoners worldwide, and most of them will eventually be released back into society. Yvonne asks: ‘Who would you rather have living next door to you? Or sitting on the train next to your daughter? Someone who has been treated with decency in an environment that has helped to heal them and instilled hope for their future? Or someone who has effectively been caged and dehumanised for years?’ Challenging our expectations of what prisons are for, she takes us along their corridors, into cells, communal spaces, visitors’ areas, and staffrooms, to the architects’ studios where they are designed, and even into her own home, to show us the importance of an architecture of hope in the face of despair.

Publisher Review

'Yvonne Jewkes takes a vital question - what are prisons for? - and turns it into a much wider and beautifully written reflection on the meaning of home. Her book is full of hard-won authority and expertise conveyed in tenderly human ways.' -- Joe Moran, author of First You Write a Sentence 'If you think a book on prison architecture is not for you - think again. This book is so much more. A life affirming personal and professional narrative that teaches us all what it is like to be human - flawed, driven, and determined to survive. Jewkes impacted on my life at a moment when I didn't know I needed her.' -- Professor Lady Sue Black, Baroness Black of Strome 'A book full of insights to illuminate the way we look at architecture. Jewkes' beautiful descriptions not only evoke the feel of the air in a space, but also reveal the moral significance of its design. So refreshingly distinctive from other types of prison books - a beautiful meditation on the universal need for sanctuary, what it means when it is taken away from us, and the courage it takes to reclaim it.' -- Andy West, author of The Life Inside 'So much more than a book about buildings, this beautifully written, intelligent, compassionate book uses our prisons as a prism through which to present a powerful meditation on the nature of what we call home. Anyone who cares about community and building a fair society must read it.' -- Sarah Langford, author of In Your Defence 'This deeply vulnerable, beautifully written personal memoir is deftly interwoven with literature, philosophy, and prison architecture; playing with ideas of home, family, imprisonment, and what it means to be free. I found myself thinking about it while on trains, while driving, while writing. It is a triumph.' -- Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things 'A powerful exploration of freedom and confinement, and the spaces we all inhabit. Yvonne Jewkes asks difficult questions about the meaning and purpose of incarceration in the twenty-first century, and what it might be to build an architecture for a more hopeful society. This is a book with no easy answers, but one that invites us to reflect more deeply. Because, on the evidence of the stories Jewkes tells, most of what we think we know about prison is wrong.' -- Will Buckingham, author of Hello, Stranger 'Beautifully written, meticulously researched, this book should be a "must read" for anyone who wants to understand how prisons operate and their impact on people in prison. The personal narrative throughout heightens the reader's emotional connection with the content and makes this an unputdownable book. Yvonne Jewkes will captivate, enlighten, and intrigue the reader through this perceptive and truthful insight into the purpose of prisons through the lens of design.' -- Pia Sinha, Chief Executive, Prison Reform Trust 'A fascinating examination of how bricks and mortar affects our lives and the people we imprison in them. Beautifully written, honest, and clever, this is a book we should all read.' -- Kit de Waal, author of My Name is Leon 'This delicate story, nestled within a debate so striking and profound, stole my heart.' -- Lucy Easthope, author of When the Dust Settles 'A beautifully written exploration of what it means to imprison. Jewkes' professional expertise is carefully weaved with personal memoir, and the result is a story of practical empathy, humility, and wisdom. An Architecture of Hope confronts our preconceptions of justice and civility and exposes the challenges of designing a world most of us will never live in.' -- Tracy King, author of Learning to Think 'This is an impressively honest and personal account of a professional career and a personal life. It moves poignantly between the human world and the built environment, weaving in deep emotion which permeates both spheres unapologetically. Yvonne's passion for architecture goes beyond the realms of a "day job". She is able to skilfully convey to the reader that the built environment can bring us down, or build us up and demonstrate to us what it really means for architecture to not only be the doctor, but the medicine too. This is a powerful story of rebuilding self through the lens of professional development and human attachment, but it also acts as a warning shot to help us avoid becoming architects of our own imprisonment. Hope and new life sit at the heart of this passionate and moving book.' -- Lady Edwina Grosvenor 'Profoundly urgent writing at the intersection between architecture and psychology, Jewkes' story unfolds with a deft combination of academic knowledge and the complicated wisdom that comes from messy human experience. A uniquely hybrid tale about the very idea of freedom. You will never think about incarceration, or buildings, the same way again.' -- Cristin Leach, author of Negative Space 'If you think that prison is a horrible place because it's where we send horrible people, this book may open your eyes. It may make you reflect that if we abuse people, they will behave abusively; and that if we make prisons better places, we will make prisoners better people. Redemption is a word Yvonne Jewkes likes. So do I.' -- Wendy Joseph KC, author of Unlawful Killings 'By turns enlightening and enraging, this is both moving memoir and a compelling argument to shift how we think about prison. Life writing at its finest.' -- Joanna Nadin, author of The Future of the Self 'There were many times when I read this lovely book I went yes, yes, yes - that is exactly how I feel about working and researching in prisons. It's not an academic text - it's not really about prisons or prisoners - it's a deeply personal memoir about how prisons get under your skin in often uncomfortable ways.' -- Professor Nicholas Hardwick, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales 2010-2016 and Chair Parole Board for England and Wales 2016-2018 'In this engaging and poignant book, Yvonne Jewkes takes the reader into the hidden world of prisons, revealing how their architecture and design reflects social values and shapes the lives of those who live and work in them. There are uncanny echoes in Jewkes' own life as an ambitious house renovation founders and the cracks in the foundations of her 25-year relationship are laid bare. She is left rebuilding both a home and her future. In these parallel and intersecting experiences Jewkes invites the reader to consider how the buildings we create and inhabit are an expression of who we are, individually and as a society. A brilliant read that will be a delight and revelation to those who are unfamiliar with prisons as well as those have spent their lives inside.' -- Jamie Bennett, former prison governor 'With fearless vulnerability, wit, and elegance, Yvonne Jewkes intersects seemingly disparate and complex themes into a beautifully rendered memoir. Few in the contemporary penal landscape may speak of "hope" and be considered remotely sincere. To do so with such profound empathy, pragmatism, and legitimacy, positions her squarely in a class of her own.' -- Nick London, current prisoner, columnist for Inside Time