Designing safe and biodiverse green spaces in prisons

监狱中生物多样性绿色空间的设计指南的制定对囚犯来说是安全的。作为第二大政府产业，英格兰和威尔士司法部（以下简称MoJ）拥有超过3000公顷的土地[1]，其中65%属于监狱投资组合[2]。尽管这片土地面积很大，但出于安全和成本的原因，个别监狱的大部分“铁丝网内”土地都以柏油路面和硬质景观为特征。在存在绿色空间的地方，这些通常是修剪过的草坪，提供有限的野生动物栖息地。认识到这些不足，司法部将生物多样性列为战略重点，并于最近建立了生物多样性基线，自然资本评估工具和自然恢复计划，旨在大幅改善生物多样性，福祉和其他生态系统服务，如碳封存和洪水缓解[3]。除了这些生物多样性和可持续发展的愿望之外，越来越多的证据表明，监狱中的绿色空间可以显着改善囚犯和监管他们的工作人员的福祉。[4]最近的研究表明，在拥有更多绿色空间的监狱中，自我伤害、暴力和工作人员生病缺勤的水平较低。显然，这既是一个重要的机会，可以在政府财产的很大一部分内提高生物多样性和福祉，也是高层对这一目标的承诺。然而，真正的业务问题-绿色空间在受益于这些空间的被监禁者进入时存在安全风险-阻碍了进展。具体而言，人们担心违禁品可能隐藏在植被中，武器是由天然材料制成的，植被可能掩盖对安全至关重要的清晰视线。无论是在新监狱的发展中，还是在现有监狱的任何重建中，这些关注往往会扼杀草坪以外任何形式的绿色空间的引入。设计研究需要应用在这里：监狱建设非常昂贵，由于景观美化几乎是建设的最后阶段，缺乏明确的和成本的景观设计，以满足安全的要求意味着景观美化的生物多样性和福祉往往是“价值工程”的建设计划。我们将与项目合作伙伴司法部和监狱建筑承包商Kier合作，为适用于英国及其他地区的监狱提供绿色空间设计指南。它的利用将直接支持在很大一部分公共财产中增强生物多样性，并与之一起改善那些在监狱中生活和工作的人的福祉。最终的目的是，设计指南将成为监狱建设技术标准的一部分，既要求在所有新的联合王国监狱中建立生物多样性绿色空间，又为监狱的设计提供蓝图。

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.