Dr Alberto Urrutia-Moldes. Thinking about the meaning and the consequences of prison architecture

Video link which includes Alberto's diagrams is here: https://youtu.be/qDRqJ93shLM

Dr Alberto Urrutia-Moldes, originally from Chile, holds a PhD in prison architecture from the University of Sheffield. He is a Lecturer in Construction in the partnership program of the University of Bath Spa and GBS in Manchester, UK. He is also a Lecturer in prison built environment at the Centre for Public Innovation in Latin America (InnovaPublica), and an international consultant in prison architecture. As a consultant, he is currently working on the evaluation of carceral conditions and their alignment with the Nelson Mandela Rules in the prison services of Bolivia and Honduras. Alberto has a BSc in Construction Engineering and a BSc in Industrial Engineering. After five years of managing constructions for the private sector, he worked for 15 years in the Bio-Bio regional office of the Chilean prison service, as head of planning and heading the architecture and construction office, working on the delivery of capital refurbishments and upgrades of 24 prison and probation facilities across 13 cities in the region. In 2012 he co- organised the first conference in prison architecture held in Chile and co-edited the book 1st Seminar of Prison Architecture for Social Reinsertion, published by the University of Bio-Bio He left his country in 2014 to start studies of PhD in the UK, conducting a cross-continental study in prison architecture, which is the base for his book, recently published by Routledge, called Health and Well-Being in Prison Design A Theory of Prison Systems and a Framework for Evolution. Alberto investigates how the health and well-being of prison users are addressed by designers, prison services authorities, and international prison advisers in eight countries across Europe, North America and South America.

Book Chapter being published in a volume named “What works in prison architecture”, edited by Dominique Moran and Yvonne Jewkes. Currently in process of final revisions by editors. Chapter title: Prison architecture in Chile: A Critical Realist analysis of prison architectural outputs through the lens of organised hypocrisy theory.