The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) commissioned Alma Economics to conduct a Rapid Evidence Assessment to inform its long-term prison estates strategy. This report synthesised a large body of literature providing evidence on how prison design can influence outcomes for prisoners, prison staff, and society more widely. The report included examples of prison design best practices in England, Wales, and other countries.

This research supported policymakers in shaping the future development and renovation of prison estates in England and Wales, and provides a foundation for further work.

For this literature review, our team developed a search protocol tailored to specific research questions allowing for a transparent and replicable search of the literature. The findings were summarised in an Evidence Map, an interactive online tool that allows users to explore the evidence of interest swiftly and identify gaps in the literature.

We further delivered a technical report outlining our methodology, a narrative summary presenting overarching findings, and a Research Extraction Sheet providing further information on the studies included in the map.

The Evidence Map we created is available here.