Prison Populations Going Through The Roof

Three Malaysian architecture students have won the 2010 Skyscraper Competition for their revolutionary and ambitious design of a prison in the sky.

Chow Khoon Toong, Ong Tien Yee and Beh Ssi Cze proposed the Vertical Prison System, a prison that would be suspended above a city with the prisoners living in a 'free' community that contributes to the host city below, with the only access via elevator pods that run from the prison down to the ground.

The reasoning behind the design is that studies have shown that rates of re-offending are so high because prisoners are not given the opportunity to rehabilitate in a desirable community. As well as avoiding the need for prison bars, the design includes farms, factories and recycling plants to produce goods for the wider community and serve to rehabilitate the inmates.

The Vertical Prison System would revolutionalise the penitentiary system in a sustainable and ecological friendly design. The design also makes potential escape from the prison more difficult or at the very least more exciting, there would be no scaling walls, no Shawshank Redemption tunneling, however there would  be plenty of opportunities for Hollywood blockbuster escape plans involving helicopters, jetpacks or ridiculous parachute designs.