CASE STUDIES
Restorative Justice
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Author of case study: Marcela Torres Molano
Geopolitical location of space:
555 W Coast Rd, Templeton
Christchurch, New Zealand
Extant? Yes
Architect:
The last maintenance reform (2011) was done by the Naylor Love Canterbury construction company.
Christchurch Men’s Prison is a detention centre for men located on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The prison has been the space of restorative justice encounters between victims and perpetrators of crimes such as murder. These encounters happen when parole is being considered for a perpetrator.
Yes, encounters between victims and imprisoned perpetrators take place in the building.
No. The spaces used for the encounters are within the prison and have not been designed specifically for safe listening.
The intended participants are crime victims and imprisoned perpetrators.
Christchurch Men’s Prison is the property of the Department of Corrections of New Zealand.
Christchurch Men’s Prison, also known as Paparua, is situated 18 kilometres from the centre of Christchurch, occupying 1,000 acres of a farming site. It is one of New Zealand’s oldest and largest minimum to high security prisons, and it accommodates nearly 1,000 male prisoners. The site opened in 1915, while the two original buildings were completed in 1925. In 1972, a third wing was constructed; these three units are fully operational. The Paparua prison is four times the size it was in the early 20th century, that includes the prison pig farm.
The two original structures are concrete rectangular buildings with external cells along the two long exterior walls. They lack natural light and have an archaic atmosphere. One of these structures is a high-security voluntary segregation unit. The roads are grey, the buildings are grey and the wires are grey, except for the artwork made by the inmates since 2015. The Leimon Villas, established in 2000, are four house-like units that accommodate low-security prisoners in an apartment type space, to teach the men independent living skills by letting them organise their own cooking, cleaning, and weekly food budgets.
“Paparua is a good example of a prison responding to the social conditions of the day, it shows the rural ethic of New Zealand, that provides therapeutic benefits of outdoor work” (Symon, 2012).
Restorative justice in New Zealand is a process that intends to repair the damage done to victims of crimes, through a carefully mediated meeting between victims and offenders. During the meetings victims have the opportunity to communicate directly with the person responsible of the offence. In the restorative justice “conference,” the victim has the opportunity to tell the offender how they have been affected by the crime, ask questions and discuss if and how the harm can be repaired.
The restorative justice system has an important place in Paparua Prison in Christchurch. “For some offenders there is a real hope of rehabilitation if they can work with the restorative process which gives crime victims a voice” (BBC).
is an author, speaker, columnist, and podcaster in the fields of architecture and decorative arts. She is completing her MA in Art History at Concordia University, Montréal, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Marketing from John Molson School of Business. She studied Industrial Psychology in Los Angeles, California. Sicotte is the author of two published books on design (2015, 2018) published by Les Éditions Cardinal.
is a Colombian PhD candidate in the Department of Art History at Concordia University. She has a background in architectural design and community activism and holds a master’s degree in Building and Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, England. Her interests focus on socially-engaged art, social movements, collaborative activism in post-conflict scenarios, collectively-produced art, and art produced in relation to the built environment.
is a PhD candidate in Humanities at Concordia University. His research focuses on spatial agency, social aesthetics, youth narratives, and graphic representations of urban memory. He has published on the relationship between children, play, and public space in Cartagena, Colombia. He has also worked as an editor on literary projects, including Territorio Fértil, which received the María Nelly Murillo Hinestroza award for Afro-Colombian literature.
is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Architectures of Spatial Justice (Tier 2) at the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture at McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Her research interests include low-income housing and participatory design, civil protest and urban design, and campus landscapes and race. Her publications include the co-edited book, Orienting Istanbul (2010) and solo-authored book, Istanbul Open City (2018).
is an artist and a professor of Art History at Concordia University. Her work focuses on women and the history of the built environment, urban landscapes, research-creation, and oral history. She has published on the spatial history of the suffrage movement, public art, gardens, and the politics of urban change. In addition to her research on the spaces of restorative and transitional justice, she is leading an oral history project on the urban memories of diverse Montrealers.
is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University, Montreal (Quebec, Canada). He is also the second co-director of Concordia’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. His latest publications explore listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. For instance, see ‘Facilitating voicing and listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. The Colombian scenario.’ In: De Nardi, S., Orange, H., et al. Routledge Handbook of Memoryscapes. Routledge: London. (2019), and his article ‘Not being able to speak is torture: performing listening to painful narratives’. International Journal of Transitional Justice, Special Issue Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice: Contributions of Arts and Culture. (March, 2020)
