Speakers
Parallel Workshops
Women’s prisons worldwide are under pressure from growing populations and increasingly complex mental health needs, reflected in high rates of self‑harm, suicide risk and psychological distress. At the same time, many facilities remain defined by punitive design and limited access to nature—an environmental deprivation linked to poorer mental health and heightened institutional harms. Emerging evidence from England and Wales suggests that prisons with more greenspace experience lower levels of self‑harm and violence, indicating that the physical environment can play a meaningful role in managing operational risk and demand. This presentation, part of a larger mixed‑methods project, combines a cross‑national GIS analysis of women’s prisons in Canada and the UK with a systematic review of international research on greenspace and mental health in carceral settings. It explores how features such as prison gardens, tree cover, outdoor yards and views of nature relate to self‑harm incidents and suicide attempts, and how nature‑based interventions can support emotional regulation, reduce depressive symptoms and create safer institutional climates for women. The session, positioned under the theme “Managing Prison Growth and Complexity,” emphasises greenspace as a low‑cost way to reduce pressures on staff, health, and security, fostering humane conditions. It offers gender‑responsive recommendations for architects, administrators, and policymakers, urging cross-sector partnerships to incorporate environmental data and greenspace into estate planning, suicide prevention, and care models for women with complex needs. This encourages viewing prison landscapes as active parts of safe, sustainable, and just correctional systems.