Designing safe and biodiverse green spaces in prisons

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There is an urgent need for design research in landscape architecture to enable the development of a Design Guide for biodiverse green spaces in prisons, which will be safe for prisoners to access.As the second largest government estate, the Ministry of Justice of England and Wales (hereafter MoJ) has a total land holding of >3000 hectares[1], of which 65% is within its prisons portfolio[2]. Despite the significant extent of this estate, for reasons of security and cost, much of the land 'inside the wire' of individual prisons is characterised by tarmac and hard landscaping. Where green spaces exist, these are often closely-mown lawns offering limited wildlife habitats.Recognising these shortfalls, MoJ lists biodiversity as a strategic focus, and has recently established a biodiversity baseline, a natural capital assessment tool, and a nature recovery plan for the estate which seeks to substantially improve biodiversity, wellbeing, and other ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and flood alleviation[3]. In addition to these biodiversity and sustainability aspirations, a growing evidence base shows that green spaces in prisons significantly enhance the wellbeing both of prisoners and of the staff who supervise them.[4] Recent research has shown lower levels of self-harm, violence and staff sickness absence in prisons with more green space.There is clearly both an important opportunity here to enhance biodiversity and wellbeing within a significant proportion of government estate, and commitment to this goal at a senior level. However, genuine operational concerns - that green spaces present security risks when accessed by the incarcerated people who derive benefit from them - hamper progress. Specifically, it is feared that contraband may be concealed in vegetation, weapons furnished from natural materials, and that vegetation may obscure the clear sightlines that are important for security. Both in the development of new prisons, and in any redevelopment of existing prisons, these concerns tend to stifle the introduction of green spaces in any form other than lawns. Design research needs to be applied here: prisons are very expensive to build, and since landscaping is almost the final stage of construction, the lack of clear and costed landscape designs that meet the demands of security means that landscaping for biodiversity and wellbeing is often 'value-engineered' out of construction plans altogether. At best, a lawn is laid, but often tarmac prevails.Working with project partners the Ministry of Justice and prison-building contractor Kier, we will produce a Design Guide for green spaces in prisons applicable across the UK and beyond. Its utilisation will directly support enhanced biodiversity across a significant proportion of the public estate, and with it the wellbeing of those who live and work in prisons. Ultimately, the intention is that the Design Guide will become part of the Technical Standards for prison construction, both mandating biodiverse green spaces in all new UK prisons, and providing a blueprint for their design.