Introducción: la prisión como espejo arquitectónico
de la sociedad
“Una sociedad se juzga por el estado de sus prisiones”, escribió Albert Camus, (1)
recordándonos que el encierro no es un simple mecanismo de custodia, sino
un espejo que, a menudo, resulta incómodo para los valores que una comu-
nidad aspira a sostener.
La arquitectura penitenciaria condensa de forma material decisiones
políticas, éticas y técnicas y, además, produce un ambiente sensorial que
impregna la vida cotidiana de quienes lo habitan, ya sean internos, personal
penitenciario o visitantes. En el caso de la arquitectura penitenciaria, no se
trata únicamente de levantar muros, rejas o pasillos de vigilancia. Cada deci-
Fig. 1. Thomas, Ed. Vista de la experiencia
virtual 6×9: a virtual experience of soli-
tary confinement, diseñada para situar
al espectador dentro de una celda de
confinamiento solitario de prisión, 2016.
com/world/2016/may/03/solitary-confi-
nement-mentally-ill-prisoners-florida).
Fig. 2. Reveley, Willey. Plano del panóp-
tico carcelario de Jeremy Bentham, 1791.
pedia.org/wiki/Panopticon).
Fig. 3. Leventi, David. Fotografía de la
cárcel Stateville Correctional Center
mostrando el centro circular con su
torre de vigilancia, 2016. David Leventi
com/portfolio/prison/2).
Introduction: Prison as an Architectural Reflection of Society
“A society is judged by the state of its prisons,” wrote Albert Camus, (1)
reminding us that confinement is not merely a mechanism of custody, but
a mirror that is often uncomfortable for the values a community aspires to
uphold.
1. CAMUS, A. Reflexiones sobre la guillo-
tina. París: Gallimard, 1957.
Prison architecture materially embodies political, ethical, and technical
decisions and, moreover, produces a sensory environment that permeates the
daily life of those who inhabit it, whether inmates, prison staff, or visitors. In
the case of prison architecture, it is not only a matter of erecting walls, bars,
or surveillance corridors. Every spatial and material decision, from the surface
of a cell to the color of its walls or the reverberation of sound in a corridor,
shapes perceptions, emotions, and behaviors. (Fig. 1)
From sociology and social philosophy, it has been shown that space
is never neutral: it always organizes and conditions the forms of life it con-
tains. Foucault (1975) conceived the prison as the paradigm of the disciplinary
apparatus, (2) a space designed to regulate time, the gaze, and movement,
producing docile bodies and subjectivities adapted to control. (Figs. 2-3) Ac-
cording to Goffman (1961), the prison is a “total institution”, (3) in which the
boundaries between the public and the private become blurred and individuals
are absorbed into a regime that controls all aspects of their existence. More
recently, Wacquant (2000) pointed to the contemporary “punitive turn”, (4) in
1. CAMUS, A. Reflections on the Guillotine.
Paris: Gallimard, 1957.
2. FOUCAULT, M. Discipline and Punish.
Madrid: Siglo XXI, 1975.
3. GOFFMAN, E. Asylums: Essays on the
Social Situation of Mental Patients and
Other Inmates. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor
Books, 1961.
4. WACQUANT, L. Prisons of Poverty.
Buenos Aires: Manantial, 2000.
María González-Aranguren, Inés Martín-Robles, Jacobo García-Germán Vázquez. Condiciones arquitectónicas
psicoambientales en prisiones. Psychological and environmental architectural conditions in prisons. 187-209 pp.
188 | Constelaciones nº 14, 2026. ISSN: 2340-177X
