A jail in San Francisco is exploring a new concept in criminal justice called restorative justice – an alternative to traditional criminal justice that focuses on healing victims and offenders alike.
“The most important thing is to be accountable, but in order to work on yourself, you have to be comfortable,” said Christopher Gillis, 44, facing murder and commercial burglary charges.
Gillis was one of 48 men enrolled in a four-day restorative justice workshop focusing on jail design, the Los Angeles Times reported Aug. 19.
“I feel an extra sense of purpose today,” said Lamar Paschall, 32, charged with kidnapping, rape and robbery. “Hopefully this can become fruitful and turn into something real down the line.”
The workshop was for men awaiting trial in the San Francisco jail who agreed to participate in a program called “Resolve to Stop the Violence.”
This workshop allows them to explore their feelings about the system that landed them there.
Regarding jail design, Anthony Pratt, 29, pictures an airy room with a skylight to allow for sunlight and a fountain with cascading waterfalls to represent resilience. He added windows and privacy barriers for the shower and toilet areas.
Instructor Barb Toews, a restorative justice practitioner, conducted a 13-inmate workshop at a Pennsylvania prison, with most participants having committed murder. The men were defensive and reluctant to share their feelings. She asked, “What would a room look like where you could face anything you’ve done and be accountable for it” Together they created a vision and called it “Do No Harm” room.
Designer Deanna VanBuren encourages big architectural firms to hold similar workshops, “The goal is to empower those inside the institutions and prod architects to actually talk to the people they are designing for” because “that’s how an architect would practice in any other setting.”
Critics of restorative justice contend the process could lead to disparate remedies, making some victim organizations and hard-line prosecutors reject it. Nonetheless, the practice has spread globally.
Theorist Howard Zehr promoted restorative justice concepts in the 1970s. As consensus builds that traditional criminal justice models are failing to prevent recidivism, VanBuren and fellow instructor Toews, an academic, have joined a small chorus of designers, researchers, judges and wardens calling for new spaces to match the tenets of restorative justice, the Times reported.