Kayla Parrish

Finding Community in Confinement is an innovative redesign of the outdoor yards in California Men’s Colony, San Luis Obispo. This project explores how landscape architecture can create solutions to the issue of recidivism, which is the tendency for criminals to re-offend after being released causing them to end up back in the system. The goal of this approach is to improve the social environment within the prison, promote rehabilitation, and decrease recidivism.

This redesign builds off of existing programs within this site as well as proposes new ones. The new space gives incarcerated men the opportunity to develop and explore their creativity and passions in a way that is not often available to men in prison. The design is built on multi-functional and flexible spaces that fit into the prison layout while tackling security and site restrictions. The design is focused around the existing yards but also explores the use of existing roof spaces to maximize the areas for program opportunity