Prison as a Mirror: The Reflection of the Prison Concept & The Re-Evaluation of the Built Environment

Throughout history, the prison as a physical entity took different shapes, forms and morphs. However, the prison system was hardly ever proven effective and questions about its efficiency and objectives have been a subject of debate. This research suggests that “Prisons” do not only exist physically but also exist as a conceptual phenomenon. The concept of imprisonment was determined through studying distinctive legendary prisons while referring to written literature by Michel Foucault, Gaston Bachelard, and Edmund Bacon. A direct connection between imprisonment and the human detachment from “Nature and Life” was determined. Criteria of the concept of imprisonment were deduced in order to be able to distinguish the existence of the conceptual prison phenomenon from other heterotopic spaces. The research suggests that the concept of prison as a mirror is able to reflect the unspoken factors in the built environment which leads to the reevaluation of the current built environment in urban context. This research suggests the use of the prison criteria as a tool to read the built environment and develop the capability to avoid the phenomenon of imprisonment in urban context as well as individual spaces within the built environment.


Introduction
According to Foucault's article "Of the Other Spaces: Utopia and Heterotopia" (1967), Prison is unquestionably a heterotopia.But what does it mean to be "Imprisoned"?The idea of "Imprisonment" has changed and developed over the course of time.Different approaches have taken place in order to imprison people, punish, isolate, incarcerate, rehabilitate…etc.According to the Legal dictionary by John Bouvier: "Incarceration; the act of restraining the personal liberty of an individual; confinement in a prison."The objectives of Imprisonment have been segregated into 3 main principles: To Incapacitate/Protect the Public, Retribute/Punish, Rehabilitate (Karthaus, 2019).However, imprisonment resulted in an increase in prisoners and recidivism due to the deterioration of their mental health (Coyle et al., 2016) (Evans, 2017).Prisoners are multiplying, 86% of ex-convicts recidivate within the first 5 years of their release (James, 2015).This then brings many inquiries into the discourse of crime, discipline and the existence of prison systems.Prison systems exist today to acquire results that it does not fulfill.If prison as a phenomenon has not been an efficient solution to the problem of crime, then it might be time to raise a robust question; a question that concerns the concept of prison rather than its physical existence: Is the prison a physical phenomenon or is it a concept that goes beyond the physical terms?The research recognized that there is a deeper meaning, a conceptual meaning, for imprisonment and that it is not only a physical phenomenon.The research begins by studying speculative spaces (Utopia, Heterotopia, and the mirror) through Michelle Foucault, and understanding utopia as a space through Gaston Bachelard's book "Poetics of Space", and then understanding it through the built environment through Edmund Bacon's book "Design of Cities".Prisons have already been determined as Heterotopias by Foucault; However, this research tested this theory through studying 4 different legendary prisons and their correspondence to the 6 principles of heterotopia determined by Foucault.After concluding that prisons are in fact heterotopias, the research attempted to segregate the phenomenon of prison heterotopia through deducing the concept of the prison.The concept would be determined to be directly related with "Nature and Life".The research then derived criteria of imprisonment that separate the phenomenon of prison heterotopia from other heterotopias.This would allow designers to read the built environment through these findings and develop the ability to avoid further unintentional prison heterotopic designs in which humans would become unknowingly imprisoned in.

Methodology
This research is conducted under the qualitative method, based on Hermeneutics (Heidigger, Being & Time, 1927), Phenomenology (Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, 1945), and Hermeneutical Phenomenology (Heidigger, Being & Time, 1927).Hermeneutics is the theory and practice of interpretation, where the interpretation involves an understanding that can be justified.This research relies on Hermeneutical theories based on the German philosopher Martin Heidigger in his book "Being and Time" where he explains it as a matter of textual interpretation made of being in the world and orienting oneself in it (Heidigger, 1927).Alternatively, this research uses phenomenological approaches as a tool in order to view a phenomenon as it is rather than a labeled subject.Phenomenological theories are withdrawn from both Maurice Merleau-Ponty in his book "Phenomenology of Perception" and Martin Heidigger in his book "being and time".

Utopia
Utopia is a conceptual fictional unreal space that has been the center of discussions for centuries.Different people, architects, designers, philosophers, discussed the phenomenon of Utopia, what it meant, and if it could be implemented in the physical world.Michel Foucault in his article "Of the Other Spaces: Utopia and Heterotopia", describes Utopia as "sites with no real places" (Foucault, 1967, p. 3).It is an unreal space that is perfect in all its aspects for everyone.It is a site that presents society with perfection.Foucault (1967) introduced the concept of Heterotopia, which means the other places.He juxtaposes Utopia with Heterotopia and he iterates that Utopias are sites with no real places, whereas Heterotopias are places that do exist within real sites.Foucault determines six different principles of heterotopias that would help recognize them from other spaces.This research will attempt to explain each briefly in order to grasp the characteristics of a heterotopic space within the built environment.-1 st Principle: Each heterotopia has a form of its own, but it exists within every culture in the world.According to Foucault, this principle could be divided into two parts, and existing heterotopias could be either one, Heterotopia of Crisis and Heterotopia of Deviation.In primitive societies there are specific spaces that are created for individuals that are going through a state of crisis which can be referred to as heterotopias of crisis.Whereas in more recent days societies portray specific norms in specific periods of time; if a person deviates from the regulated norms they would be placed within heterotopias of deviation.

Heterotopia
-2 nd Principle: Every society develops heterotopias that function differently over time.Societies and their values change overtime, so does their understanding of what is to be perceived as normal; This causes heterotopic spaces in every society to function differently over the course of time.-3 rd Principle: Heterotopic spaces are composed of distinctive spaces that are themselves incompatible.With the change of the function of the heterotopic space over time, spaces are added, changed, or eliminated according to the overall function of the heterotopic space.-4rth Principle: Heterotopias are connected to slices of time that Foucault refers to as "Heterochronies".These Heterochronies are further divided to heterotopias of indefinitely accumulating time which are technically eternal, and heterotopias of the festival that are temporal.Eternal heterotopias are building up over time and are becoming part of the space's eternal history.Eternal heterotopias are portraying time as time becomes part of the space.Whereas temporal heterotopias are based on the experience.Spaces can be experienced by different people temporally; typically, even eternal heterotopias can be experienced temporally through other individuals that are not directly connected to the eternal heterotopia.Every individual's perception of space is based on their own history, experiences, and characteristics; thus, every individual perceives every space temporarily in a distinctive manner.-5 th Principle: Heterotopias are not freely accessible.Physically, spaces that perceive a heterotopia are not accessible to the public.Conceptually, even if an individual was permitted to enter a heterotopic space, they wouldn't necessarily enter the heterotopia as the heterotopia enters the individual permitting access.It cannot be forcefully accessed, as that would defy its existence within a space.The individuals within a heterotopic space are part of the heterotopia; A person can become part of the eternal heterotopia of the space and other individuals can be experienced as temporal through other individuals experiencing the heterotopic space temporarily.-6 th Principle: Heterotopias have a function in relation to all the remaining spaces.Foucault divided this principle into heterotopia of illusion and heterotopia of compensation.Heterotopia of illusion portrays a real space that represents an illusion through the individual's life.Through this space, individuals experience a different life that separates them from their real life outside the heterotopic space.People live within an illusionary life of their own creation within the space.However, the heterotopia of compensations, is a real space that portrays perfection but is simultaneously very ill constructed.It portrays an illusion within the space rather than the life of the individual experiencing the space.Both acquire illusionary aspects after the entrance into the heterotopic space, but one's illusionary aspect is through the individual's life and one through the space itself.

Mirror
He also introduces the idea of the mirror that, according to Foucault's explanation in "Of the Other Spaces: Utopia and Heterotopia" (1967), lies within a joint relation between the Utopian and Heterotopic space.It reflects a nonexisting space, while simultaneously validating the existence of a real space.The prison is a physical building but it is also a conceptual idea.It serves a real space within a nonexistent space, serving an invisible concept.This allows the deduction that the prison can embody the mirror concept.The prison reflects an existing real space, but one of a heterotopic nature; in which one can only experience it through the admission of the prisoner through the prison system.The prison system indicates the state of the community and the values of a society or a ruling system (the unreal space), and it consecutively represents a real existing physical building that comprises a micro-world within it (the real space).In this research, the use of the prison system as a mirror that would reflect the built environment is being investigated.It is through the built environment where the society lives, acts, learns, and develops its existing mindsets.Thus, through the built environment one must target the society's perceptions and ideologies.There are unspoken facts within the societies; they affect the citizens causing there to be a sovereign/society relationship rather than a state/nation relationship.Even though they might remain unspoken, they reflect clearly within the prison systems (Foucault, 1975).

Understanding of Space as a Utopia -Deduced from Gaston Bachelard
In the article "Of the Other Spaces: Utopia and Heterotopia" (1967), Michel Foucault describes Utopia as "sites with no real places" (Foucault, 1967, p. 3).It is a site that presents society as a perfect form, which makes it an unrealistic space.However, how can a person perceive a real space in comparison to an unreal space?And is it possible to perceive this utopic environment regardless of its absence within a physical concrete existence?When children are first born into this world, they are only subjected to one thing: life, a natural life.They haven't been exposed to the concept of death but they seek safety and protection through their instincts as the main drive of their natural life.The first space that a child discovers within this natural life is the "House".In the house, children dream and feel secure, it is the child's first cosmos.Regardless of how logically or practically the house holds power, it is the safest place in the point of view of the child.The idea of the house is explained by Gaston Bachelard in his book "The Poetics of Space" (1958), in which he discovers within it a metaphor of humanness.He views the house as the first universe of every child that has grown and dreamt within it.He explains that just as humans inhabit the house as a space, so does the house inhabit the people that live within it.It is not merely a box, but its inhabited spaces surpass geometrical spaces.In his interpretations, he witnesses the house as a nest for dreaming.He explains it as the shelter of the imagination itself, an unreal space that exists within people and one can perceive it physically in its most perfect profound existence regardless of the materiality or actuality of the house itself.
According to Bachelard (1958), the house is not simply an object, it is the first universe for the inhabitants; As he mentions "It is the human being's first world before he is cast into the world (…) and always in our daydreams, the house is a large cradle" (Bachelard, 1958, p. 7).He mentions further "Being is a value.Life begins well, it begins enclosed, protected, all warm in the bosom of the house".The child is not aware of death or the absence of life, he is experiencing life in the moment, this is the child's only world, it is his utopia.The Utopic space is the perfect space, and by simply imagining one's home, one feels warmth, safety, and a sense of belonging.There are philosophers that discovered the universe by means of the dialectical game of the "I" and the "non-I" (Bachelard, 1958, p. 5).Bachelard argues that the "non-I" protects the "I" by giving it the value of the inhibited space.This is the natural way that human's function; once they find shelter, the brain creates a barrier to anything that might disturb it.Thus, nobody would be able to demolish the utopia that one has created for one's self.One will attempt to push anything that seems discomforting outside the walls of the conceptual utopic shelter that is constructed in the brain through the soul as a reflection of the inhibited physical house.Humans carry their utopia with them through their memories and imagination, regardless of the physical existence of the house.If one moves to a new house, one takes their old house with them; one takes their utopia with them.This can be understood through the phrase that Bachelard states, "And after we are in the new house, when memories of other places we have lived in come back to us, we travel to the land of Motionless Childhood" (Bachelard, 1958, p. 5).The house shelters daydreaming, it protects the dreamer, and it allows one to dream in peace; these are the identifiers of a perfect world, a utopia.The house is not just a physical space, but it is also the integration of thoughts, memories, and dreams.Therefore, through the house and the personal molded utopia, humans create their own existence.Humans cannot be separated from the memories that lie within time and subjected to the imagination according to Bachelard.Humans are their imagination and memories, and within it lies a shelter in which they feel safe and secure, that shelter is their utopia.Bacon (1967), in his book "Design of Cities", attempts to unravel certain aspects that people must become aware of in order to create a better world to exist in.As it might seem that the book is a pure comprehensive review of historic and contemporary urban design strategies specifically concerning the Urban Design field, it is actually reflecting strategies to construct Bacon's "Utopic world".In other words, Bacon attempts to create a bridge between the "Utopia" that he believes in (the perfect world), and the heterotopic environments existing in the world in order to avoid future "Dystopias".Bacon brings in ideas and concepts to work with, within the built environment, in order to achieve his "Utopia".Of these concepts, there is "the city as an act of will" in which he explains that he views the city as an indicator of the state of civilization.The ideas that Bacon brings forwards are correlating with the ideas brought forward by this research.Through the human will, and through practicing the constant strive of spreading one's utopic environment to the world, one is capable of changing the shape of the cities.What Bacon suggests is a "a clear design idea" that would be able to unify people's utopian visions, consequently changing the design of the cities.He suggests that there must first be an overall "awareness of the space" (Bacon, 1967, p.15); in which he implies it is being ignored and disregarded.According to Bacon, the purpose of design is to affect people through their senses and impressions, from a spiritual level (Bacon, 1967, p. 20).This spiritual level could be traced back to every individual's utopic space that stems from the house, mentioned previously by Bachelor.He considers that the reason behind the absence of feelings and the numbness that exists within people living in architectural spaces is due to the lack of the mind and spirit projection by the architect/ designer himself into the space (Bacon, 1967).This corresponds to the Utopian spaces of each individual (the house) being infiltrated by heterotopic principles eliminating the utopian qualities of any space.Bacon states that a designer must engage in their full capabilities in order to create an "all-encompassing experience to engage involvement" (Bacon, 1958, p. 23).He does not believe that a designer is capable of conceiving a design without the community's approval; a community is capable of rejecting a design which is why a design must be extremely disciplined and it is also why a project is always altered throughout the course of its creation.Therefore, if heterotopias are infiltrating the utopic personal sacred spaces of individuals, it is because the community allowed for this to happen without recognizing their own approval.Bacon believes that design structures give out certain energies that could only be effective if the sensibilities of the people of the city were taken into consideration.However, he emphasizes that every individual responds differently to certain designs (Bacon, 1967, p. 64).If one were to understand that every individual experiences space differently, one can understand that everyone has a different frame of reference in which they would be able to relate or position themselves within a specific space and experience it.This frame of reference begins developing from the first space experienced, which would be the house; thus, the Utopia of the individual person.Then one can understand that Bacon's idea of utopia is directly related with the consideration of people's sensibilities.Bacon believes that architects have the ability to open up new areas of awareness for the people through architectural forms and structures that could allow people to move through specific routes with thought-out pauses that could influence the nature of their response (1967).He also insists that the idea of architecture shouldn't be focused on the manipulation of mass, but through the articulation of experiences.Architecture will remain architecture; but it is used and employed in different ways (Bacon, 1967, p.123).This idea could be related to the previously mentioned individual effort to spread one's utopia; It results in common spaces in which heterotopias take shape.These heterotopias could exist in different ways and can be employed differently.Bacon, creates a methodology in which he believes that the decisions made are the main factors in terms of the growth of architectural form (Figure .2).This methodology consists of an interplay between the idea and the action taken.This methodology is further developed to become a more comprehensive and reflective cycle that focuses on the importance of feedback recognition (Figure .2).Starting from the hypothesis, the cycle goes through different stages until it reaches back to a new hypothesis that is reformed through feedback responses.A hypothesis starts as an idea that begins to influence people through communicating it.Some parts of this hypothesis will be accepted, some would be rejected; the job of the designer is to listen, question, and reflect.As a result, a coherent organism is produced within the built environment using constructive technologies which marks the beginning of the action phase.This then creates an impact on people's lives because it becomes part of their living processes causing their quality of life to change.Through behavioral sciences, the designers must be able to study this impact and the responses of the people in order to study the feedback and adjust the hypothesis (Bacon, 1967, p.258).

Concept of Prison as a Heterotopia
The three main objectives of imprisonment are incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation.However, prison does not only exist as a physical phenomenon, but also as a conceptual one.One can recognise that prisons as they exist today, haven't been always used as forms of punishment to discipline people, but rather as a transitional space or a waiting area until the prisoner reaches their final verdict.Thus, it hasn't come by natural means.Acquiring a shelter or a safe space has always been an instinctive action within the humans and the animal kingdom.One can see that in every inhabited space, there are shelters and houses, but prisons are not always available in every inhabited space.
Imprisonment is a relatively new concept.In the past, when somebody would deviate from the law, they would be moved into a transitionary space until they receive their sentence which would range between banishment, torture, public humiliation or execution.The Prison would, in the present time, act as a box that contains deviated people that are watched at all times.Within this box, people are snatched out of their identity perception, their natural human characteristics, and their natural habitat.
In history, the spaces that acted as a prison to contain the deviants, also acted as a place of protection (such as Alcatraz being both a military base and a super prison).The spaces that are built to protect and keep people out, act relatively similar to the spaces that try to keep people in.They convey similar heterotopias and they comply with all the principles of heterotopia.The similarity between them would focus mainly on the absence of involvement between what is inside and what is outside.This would make the protected and the imprisoned both protected and imprisoned.However, the incarcerated are not only restricted from involvement, but they are snatched away from their identity, from having a voice, and from having the right to be part of the natural habitat that they belong to.Consequently, resulting in objects rather than subjects that are not allowed to express or show any type of natural human characteristics.With the idea of silencing (whether literally or conceptually) the prisoners have no voice, thus no opinion, thus they do not exist.Within the prison, their existence would be considered temporal.
As spaces transition into becoming prisons, involvement between inside and outside decreases and separation from life and nature increases.Nature is connected to the prison concept; the more nature fades away, the more the concept of prison reinforces itself.When the people are being disconnected from their natural habitat or their natural identity and natural humanistic essence, their freedom is becoming invaded, thus imprisoning them.When involvement was missing, nature was absent, and prison was established.

Nature and Life Relation to Imprisonment
Humans, animals and all living organisms come from nature, are part of nature, belong to nature, and their existence depends on nature.The aspect that differs humans from animals is the idea of abstract thinking that animals lack.With abstract thinking the ideas of Utopia, Dystopia, and Heterotopia come to life.
If one looks back into the history of the human kind during the stone age, humans were acting naturally based on natural means without the constraints that abstract thinking would later impose.Once the human kind is detached from the natural existence, aspects of crisis and deviations emanate by means of labels that are defined through abstract thinking.The human kind would then have the capability of feeling righteous to take somebody else's life by unnatural means.This gives rise to different ontological and epistemological meanings of life, nature and the natural existence.Meaning of life is an important subject that goes beyond the widely-held belief of technocratic culture and reminds us of other aspects of life and its intrinsic values and sacredness of nature and natural life (Krebs, 1999).
According to this philosophical phenomenological argument, humans have a natural right to maintain a connection with nature considering that it is directly related with their existence and life.Humans have developed an unnatural basis of life in which they are now dependent on; However, they remain unnatural and they create crises that trigger natural life (natural life is affected through unnatural means).It sounds to be a common misunderstanding that a wise person should not surrender to fundamental needs and projects in life, rather would look for other means and goals to commit to, as a higher purpose in life which is usually defined by many other factors which life is at the end of this long list; unnatural factors which are mostly ideological or at least superficial (Krebs, 1999).As a result, humans are then detached from their natural environment as a consequence of unnatural basis.If humans come from nature, they cannot be detached from it; otherwise, they are dead (if not physically, conceptually).Nature is what makes a person alive and the ecosystem is part of nature that the human instinctively needs to survive.Humans are part of the ecosystem and they have the right of involvement.Once they are restricted from this right, they are within a prison.

The Four Legendary Prisons
The Heterotopic principles mentioned in previous sections of this research, can be studied through different legendary prisons in order to confirm prison as a phenomenon of Heterotopia.This confirmation would help deduce certain criteria of the qualities that determine Prison Heterotopia from other heterotopic spaces.In order to read and define the concept of imprisonment in an actual physical entity, this research relies on the study of four legendary prisons that can be read from the birth of the imprisonment concept until its loss.The four legendary prisons that are going to be studied in this research are the following: After the American revolution that occurred between 1765 and 1791, Americans began to repel all the embedded characteristics that were identified by the monarchy and England (Hanauer & Borgia, 2000).One of these systems that were affected by the monarchy would be the corporal punishment.The ideology of a holding cell (a prison) was not a popular form of punishment; it was rather a temporary space that a convict would be held in until receiving a proper form of punishment which would normally range between public humiliation, banishment, torture, or execution.The Americans were aiming for a republic and they wanted to invent a system of a new form of punishment that was more appropriate for a republic.In 1797, the state of New York opened "NewGate Prison".In 1815, The "Auburn Prison" was opened in the western part of New York.Within these prisons silence was a grounding law for the prisoners.They were required to work during the day in factories for 10 hours with other inmates, and they would be kept in solitary confinement within their cell blocks during the evening (Panetta, 2000).In 1820, the task of constructing a new modern prison was taken.In May of 1825, 100 convicts were transported from the auburn prison in which they were required to build their own prison.The structure was made up of 800 cells and it was 145 m long and 4 tiers high.The cell blocks were 2m deep by 0.7m wide, without running water, natural sunlight, or ventilation.Within the Auburn system were certain elements that would act as definers: they were forced to wear strike uniforms (abolished in 1904), they were forced to walk in lockstep (abolished in 1900), they would get their head shaved as soon as they entered the prison.There was a strong attempt and an effort to reshape the identity of the prisoners (Tannenbaum, 1933).The Auburn system worked on enforcing the system by applying severe physical punishments to any attempts of disobedience (Life of Sing Sing, 2019).Regardless of its inhumane nature, it was viewed as a model prison; This is because the actual goal of Sing Sing prison was production.The convicts were considered cheap laborers creating large amounts of production in the fastest amount of time.The Prison promoted great profit in a short amount of time which benefited the government and businesses (Prison Industrial Complex) (Hanauer & Borgia, 2000).Sing Sing Prison was a tourist attraction in the 19 th C. In 1877, a prison wall was built in order to reduce the need of control by the guards, and to increase security (Tannenbaum, 1933).In 1890, Sing Sing adopted an electric chair that was called "Old Spark".Some of the prisoners that were sentenced to the chair were saved from potential suicidal attempts by the medical staff only to be sent to their execution by the electric chair soon after (Life of Sing Sing, 2019).In 1914, Thomas Mott Osborne (1859-1926) became Sing Sing's warden.He changed the entire system of the prison as he brought a new enlightenment era to the institution.He created a league called "Mutual Welfare League" (MWL).Inmates would create their own court and they would have an inmate governed body that would form a court of punishment for minor offenses that encouraged accountability amongst the prison's population (Tannenbaum, 1933).In 1926, Sing Sing was entirely re-built.Two massive structures were built up the hill to the original structure which is the structure that is still in use today.Starting from the year 2000, there have been initiatives to turn the previously inhabited Sing Sing Prison into a museum (Hanauer & Borgia, 2000).

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in an Island in California, USA
Originally, Alcatraz was inhabited by the Native Americans.They would ban those that would break tribal laws into the island because they considered it to be the home of evil spirits.It was discovered by a Spanish explorer in 1775.
It was declared a property of the US government in 1849.The island was reserved for military use due to its strategic position.In 1853, construction would start (Thompson, 1979).In 1859, the first military troops were permanently garrisoned on the post to protect San Francesco.Soon After, other forts began to send deserters, escapers, and other prisoners to Alcatraz, due to the impossibility of escape.The military fort within the island would soon after be used as a military prison.It would be officially declared a military prison in 1861 for the department of the pacific (A Minimum-Security Prison) (Thompson, 1979).By the end of the 19 th C the population of the prison increased dramatically due to the Spanish-American war (1898-1898)).In 1907, inmate labor would begin by constructing 600 prison cells; none of which had any contact with the outside wall creating a prison within a prison.In 1933, considerations to change the objective of Alcatraz would begin.This was because Alcatraz's power points would serve as its weak points simultaneously; Its remote location would make it secure and difficult to escape from without the proper resources, but it also makes it difficult and costly to import supplies (Thompson, 1979).Simultaneously, during the 1930s, America witnessed an increase in crime and the introduction of the gangster period, which would cause the American Government to consider opening a super prison.It was converted into a super prison by the Bureau of Prisons in 1934.In order to ensure the security and to avoid any escapes, so many security efforts were considered (Thompson, 1979).However, soon after, the government came to the realization that the expenses required to operate Alcatraz's Super Prison were massive and the structure was deteriorating and was no longer as secure as intended to be.By 1963, the prison would close and would become a Surplus Federal Property.In 1969, Native Americans occupied the island and protested declaring it their native land.They did so after they declared Alcatraz a Federal Property because according to the treaty of Fort Laramie 1868, Native Americans have the right to abandon federal property.The occupation would end in 1971 (Thompson, 1979).By 1972, Alcatraz would become part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.It was open for tours in the year 1973, where tourists would visit Alcatraz from all over the world and they would participate in athletic activities that they would call "the annual escape from Alcatraz" (Kondo, 2019).

Tower of London in England, UK
In 1066, in the battle of Hastings, King Harold was killed making William the Conqueror (1027-1087) the next ruler changing the course of British History (Brown, 1954).William the 1st needed to reinforce his power in order to avoid attempts of any rebellion attacks.In order to avoid resistance, he chose to create a symbol for his power which resulted in the creation of the Tower of London (Bayley, 1821).Originally, it was not designed as a prison.It was a place in which William the 1 st could oppress England's citizens without the fear of being killed by rebel alliances or irate Londoners.At the time, the Tower of London was a place where anyone could feel safe.Henry the 1 st (1068-1135) would take the throne in 1100.In an attempt to make a clean break with the old regime he decided to arrest Ranulf Flambard (1060-1128), the Bishop of Durham and a close advisor of William the Conqueror's son, who would become the first prisoner of the Tower of London.He was able to escape one year later, which caused the Tower of London to become a number of different Towers (Brown, 1954).
Over the next few centuries, the tower of London grew larger and became more powerful.The Tower of London is not a singular tower but a host of towers, and they came into existence in the year 1200 (Brown, 1954).The year 1189 marked the year of the first crusade.King Richard (1157-1199) the Lion heart left England, when his brother king John (1166-1216) took over the tower and crowned himself king.King Richard returned in 1194 and overran the tower removing his brother from the tower.He would later forgive his brother and crown him king 5 years later (Brown, 1954).In 1194, King John decided to turn the tower into a home for lions, leopards, and bears.The animals would be imprisoned within the Tower; they were locked up for six centuries.They were not imprisoned for public entertainment; they were simply there for braggadocious reasons.In 1216, Henry the 3 rd (1207-1272) would take the throne, and he would give the tower its existing appearance (Inglesby, 2017).
In 1381, during the rule of King Richard the 2 nd (1367-1400), the tower of London witnessed a revolt called "The Peasants' Revolt" (May,1381-Nov,1381), due to the taxes that the king reinforced over the public which left them politically, and financially powerless (Brown, 1954).The peasants refused to pay and marched in London under the leader Wat Tyler (1341-1381).This revolt lasted a few months.However, the next revolt lasted 30 years, the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485), under the rule of Henry the 6 th (1421-1471).He was thrown into the tower in 1465 by Edward the 4 th (1442-1483).Henry the 6 th was found murdered in his cell almost certainly by Edward the 4 th .
During the reign of Henry the 8 th , the Tower of London was used predominantly as a prison (Historic Royal Palaces, n.d.).He would break Britain from the Catholic Church, he would Establish a church in England, he would become the driving force of the Reformation, he would order the execution and the imprisonment of many people.It is estimated that Henry the 8 th executed around 57,000 people during his reign; Many of which were members of the clergy, some were ordinary citizens and nobles who had taken part in protests around the country.He would execute under three main categories: Heresy, Treason and Denial.The 17 th century marked the last monarch residence within the Tower of London in 1603 by King James the 1 st (1566-1625).He conducted regulated fights between the animals in the Tower, and he would allow the commoners to see the lion if they brought it a stray cat to feast on.The 19 th century witnessed the removal of the animals from the castle under the reign of William 4 th (1765 -1837) (Historic Royal Palaces, n.d.).
In the 20 th century, during the reign of King George 5th , it was still common between the years 1914 and 1918 for those convicted of espionage (spying) to be dragged there, lined up against a wall and shot.In 1941, the last man was executed in the Tower of London.In 1952, the last two people were held inside of the Tower of London as prisoners (Historic Royal Palaces, n.d.).In the year 1988, under the reign of Elizabeth the 2 nd  the Tower of London was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in order to help conserve and protect it while recognizing its global importance and sharing it with the rest of the world (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, n.d.).It began receiving visitors from the reign of James the 2 nd (1633-1701), in the year 1669 when there was a great interest in the Royal Menagerie, armors and the Crown Jewels display.Tourism peaked in 1851 in the 19 th century and it continues to be a very important tourist attraction to this day (Historic Royal Palaces, n.d.).

La Bastille in Paris, France
It was first constructed during the 14 th C under the rule of Jean the 2 nd in the middle of the 100-year war with England (1337-1453).Paris was expanding at the time and it was protected from the west by the Louvre.However, it needed protection from the eastern side.In 1357 the city's defenses were being strengthened by expanding its walls.He began by constructing two large towers around St. Antoine Gate as a form of defense against colonizers.This would mark the first recorded birth of "La Bastille'' (Coeuret, 1890).In 1364, Charles the 5 th (1338-1380) took the throne and Bastille would take its known shape (Coeuret, 1890).During the 15 th C in 1420 the King of England Henry the 5 th (1386-1422) was able to capture Paris and took over the Bastille.During the 16 th C there was an addition of an arsenal and an arms depot within the Bastille which made it a prominent military center.The Bastille was further recognized as a major military center after an arms depot was built above the Porte Saint-Antoine during the reign of Charles 9 th (1550-1574) (Coeuret, 1890).During the 16 th C Paris was going through Civil wars.These wars are commonly known as "the French wars of Religion'' which witnessed conflicts between the French Catholics and the French Protestants (also known as the Huguents) and lasted from 1562 to 1598.The Bastille was at the time the center of these brutal religious conflicts and subsequent civil wars.During the reign of Henry the 3 rd the Bastille was used as a base to mount a raid on the Parliament de Paris.Predominant figures were arrested and detained within the Bastille by Henry the 3 rd .Henry the 4 th was able to recapture Paris in 1594 after it was invaded by Charles, the Duke of Mayenne (1554-1611) in 1590.At the time of the invasion, the area around the Bastille became a main stronghold for the Catholic League, their foreign allies.After Henry the 4rth managed to recapture Paris, the Bastille became an isolated league and it was later surrendered to him (Coeuret, 1890).During the 17 th C, under the rule of Henry the 4 th and his son Louis the 13 th (1601-1643) the Bastille was first used as a prison to detain people.Executions took place in the courtyard of the Bastille during the reign of Henry the 4 th .During the reign of Louis the 13 th , the Bastille was transformed into a more formal organ of the French state by further increasing its structured use as a state prison (Coeuret, 1890).During the reign of Louis the 14 th (1643-1715), riots and a series of civil wars erupted in Paris due to high taxes, an increase in food prices, and disease.The area around the Bastille was transformed; Paris's population was expanding dramatically as it has reached 400,000 causing the city to expand into the arable farmlands forming more suburbs (Coeuret, 1890).Louis the 14 th rebuilt the area around the Bastille in 1660 by creating new archways at the Porte Saint-Antoine in order to avoid similar events to that of the Fronde.In 1670, he removed the city walls and their supporting fortifications and replaced them with an avenue of trees also known as Louis 14 th boulevard.The Bastille's fortifications went through redevelopment, becoming a garden for the use of the prisoners (Coeuret, 1890).During his reign the power was centralized and under the control of the king.He was detaining individuals inside the Bastille through a direct order from him that came in a "Lettre de Cachet".He would imprison people without giving them the right for a trial for an indefinite amount of time (Coeuret, 1890).During the 18 th C, after the death of king Louis the 14 th , Paris's population grew further and absolutism was further reinforced.These events caused the number of prisoners within the Bastille to increase.The Bastille became a clear divider between the wealthy and the poor; the aristocratic neighborhoods of the "Marais" and the densely populated working class "Faubourg St. Antoine".The Bastille became a symbol of growing inequalities between the nobles and the commoners; this caused the people to feel a true resentment against the symbol of oppression.During the reign of Louis the 15 th , the use of the Bastille was declining, and the living conditions were improving, but the image of the Bastille was worsening within the public's eye.Even though the Bastille was seen as a tower of despotism and oppression, the prisoners were treated exceptionally as the prison spent twice as much as laborers' salary on the care of the prisoners.They were usually from the upper class because they could afford their own luxuries.The prisoners within the Bastille would enjoy exquisite dinners with the governor of the Bastille himself, live inside spacious rooms, have the ability to own external luxuries and bring their pets and their servants into the prison with them.The prisoners were also offered a yearly pension following their release in order to encourage them to maintain good behavior.The use of the Bastille was reformed to an extent that the feared dungeons of the Bastille were no longer in use, and the finance minister, Jacque Necker (1732-1804), had to recommend closing the Bastille on an economical basis (Carlyle & Traill,1969) (Coeuret, 1890).The secrecy, literatures and the rumors, in addition to the gunpowder that the Bastille was receiving, were the main reasons behind the image that took over the Bastille of it being the prominent symbol of despotism making it the perfect target for the Parisian Revolution in 1789 (Carlyle & Traill,1969) (Coeuret, 1890).In July of that year (1789), Louis the 16 th (1754-1791) dismissed and banished his finance minister Jacque Necker.This action was the start of the French Revolution.This caused massive protests to erupt within the locals.Parisians gathered around the Bastille and demanded its surrender and to supply them with arms and gunpowder.Negotiations were being made when the Parisians grew impatient and they began to fire at the gates.Eventually, the doors of the Bastille were opened and the vainqueurs delivered it (Carlyle & Traill,1969) (Coeuret, 1890).Even though the Parisians realized that the rumors about the Bastille were untrue considering that they found only 7 prisoners living in great conditions, the press worked on legitimizing the fake despotic nature of the Bastille in order to justify the revolution (Carlyle & Traill,1969) (Coeuret, 1890).King Louis the 16 th , after hearing about the revolution, announced that he would recall Necker and that he would return to Paris.In 1790, the new French constitution, "Civile Du Clergé", was written and the Roman Catholic Church in France was recognized as the national base.The Permanent Committee of Municipal Electors at the Paris Town Hall decided on the demolition of the Bastille.Within five months the fortress was demolished.In 1833, the July column was built there to commemorate the 3 days of the revolution (Welch, 2022) (Coeuret, 1890) 5. Results

The Study of the Four Legendary Prisons through the Six Principles of Heterotopia
After studying the history of the four legendary prisons, this research attempts to study the existence of the heterotopic principles defined by Foucault (1967) in his article "Of the Other Spaces: Utopia and Heterotopia", in order to deduce the concept of prison heterotopia.Prison is already defined as a heterotopia; however, not all heterotopias are prisons.Through the study of the heterotopic principles within the four legendary prisons, this research would determine qualities that segregate prison heterotopia from other heterotopias.

Sing Sing Prison in New York, USA
Sing Sing Prison has been possessed by heterotopia since it was first assigned to become a site for a new prison.The reason behind making it the new site for a prison is due to the crisis which was the overcrowding and the overpopulation within the NewGate Prison.The main imprisonment walls were not the physical ones, it was silence that was reinforced using power.The people that would become imprisoned would be the ones that have deviated from the norms required by the society; which is mostly to stay silent, obedient and productive.Within the Auburn Prison System, the prisoners were forced to follow what they have already been meant to do behind the prison walls.Within the prison walls silence would be reinforced in a more literal way, to be productive would become a must rather than a personal duty for survival.If the prisoners wouldn't abide by the laws they were given, they would be physically tortured.Within this period, punishment was both psychological and physical.Within the same time frame, the world was going through the industrial revolution which was focused on production and generating income.Thus, Foucault's theory about the prison being a reflection of the society would be further confirmed within this example.With time the society changed and their ideologies changed with it, causing a change within the way prisons were regulated.In all cases, the people outside the walls of the prison were not inside the prison simply because they have chosen to conceptually imprison themselves so that they wouldn't get imprisoned physically.What further corroborates this idea is the event in which the prison came into existence.In 1825, 100 prisoners were sent from Auburn prison into an open site expected to build their own prison while maintaining complete silence.This shows that the physical walls were not necessary to imprison people, they were imprisoned without physical walls for 3 years and it didn't make them free; The Idea of "Silencing" using "Power" was the real prison.The Prisoners once entering Sing Sing prison would be snatched out of their identities; this was a prison of its own.When a person is unable to express themselves, they are no longer free.Inside of the world, beyond the walls of the prison, the people are also identified according to certain appearances (race, family name, statue, educational level, age); if discriminated by a more powerful person they must remain quite or they would be sent to a place in which they would stay quite forcefully.Within the prison walls, all the prisoners are a specific creature (all look the same: same uniform, haircut, silent), all must abide and stay silent to the more powerful creature (the guards/ the more powerful, they also all look the same).In 1877, once social engagement was permitted, there was a conceptual wall/prison that was weakening, allowing the prisoners more freedom.However, they were still expected to stay silent conceptually and abide by the rules and orders.This would show that over all they were imprisoned by being removed from their natural existence.Humans naturally need to communicate, they need to be able to express themselves, and they also need to have a direct connection with the natural elements of the world.Their extraction from their natural existence would become a prison.Table 1.The existence of the heterotopic principles through the history of Sing Sing Prison (Developed by Authors)

Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in an Island in California, USA
Through the principles of heterotopia, it becomes apparent that Alcatraz is a phenomenon of heterotopia.Alcatraz has had opposing roles within its timeline.It worked as a space to protect and a space to imprison; meaning it was a space to keep out and a space to keep in.In all of its stages, it was refusing involvement between inside and outside.It was used for both security and isolation making the isolated secured and the secured isolated.Through the 5 mentioned stages that possessed Alcatraz (Native Americans.Military Fort, Military Prison, Supper Prison, Native American Invasion), it went through different stages that imprisoned the island itself.It was once a free island that was inhabited by the birds that travel to it through the level of the sky.With every stage after the Spanish colonization, the island was becoming increasingly inaccessible, breaking any chance of involvement.It was imprisoned by conditioning, restricting freedom of involvement.Alcatraz in reality is an island like any other island, but it was given a specific identity of hostility that followed it throughout its timeline.The island is actually a favorable environment surrounded by a hostile environment in relation to the human being.The Native Americans imprisoned the island using an idea (that it is inhabited by evil spirits).This would turn the island into a hostile environment.The island would become a conceptually hostile environment that is a favorable environment in relation to the hostile environment around it.With time, Alcatraz was further imprisoned, increasing its hostility.When a military fort was created on the island, the island was meant to be a protective space and the inhabitants didn't feel imprisoned throughout their stay.However, when law deviators were brought to be imprisoned within the island, they felt imprisoned.So, what could turn a protective space into an incarceration place and what makes the two different?A place that is meant to protect and a place that is meant to imprison work similarly as they break the interconnection between in and out and they create conceptual and physical borders that define the space as an independent world of its own.The shift happens when the connection with life and nature is also part of the aspect considered within the implanted borders.When people are separated from their natural existence, they are imprisoned.When the island was first used as a space to banish those that have broken tribal regulations, they were still connected with their natural inhabitant and they had the right and ability to practice their natural inclinations.However, when the prison was turned into a military prison and a supper prison, people were detached from Life, the natural environment and their natural essence.
Table 2.The existence of the heterotopic principles through the history of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (Developed by Authors)

Tower of London in England, UK
Within the Tower of London, the idea of protection and imprisonment are interconnected.Nobody would be able to know whether one is being protected or imprisoned due to the lack of transmission between the inside and the outside.Thus, the tower, whether acting as a place of protection or imprisonment was dealing with the same idea of the lack of involvement.The Tower of London would become a heterotopic phenomenon.It was created first as an idea, which was to portray power.It was later used to keep the royal family safe and punish/imprison the deviated.Protection would mean keeping people from coming in, Imprisonment means keeping people from going out; Thus, breaking any chance of involvement between inside and outside.Execution and revolution would work opposingly in the same way.A revolution would mean breaking into the physical space making the physical and conceptual walls surrounding the physical structure and the heterotopic space to weaken.Execution would mean eliminating somebody within the space; they no longer exist in real life but they were last within the heterotopia and the physical structure of the Tower making them forever part of the eternal heterotopia.It would also thicken the conceptual walls around the tower keeping the people from deviating and staying imprisoned through silencing beyond the wall.
Those that inhabit the space were the royal family, those that deviated from the law, and the exotic animals.They are all imprisoned.The protected is kept in for their protection, the law breakers are kept in, the animals are also kept in.They all have one common factor; power.The royal family is the power, the deviants challenge the power, thus they are executed in order to reinforce power, and the animals that enhance the image of the power create an illusion of strength and power to the different colonies.Thus, they are all imprisoned by the idea of power.
Table 3.The existence of the heterotopic principles through the history of The Tower of London (Developed by Authors)

La Bastille in Paris, France
The Bastille was that it was built as a means of protection for the public and resulted into the main target of the eventual revolution.The space that was meant to make the public feel safe made the public feel incarcerated.Its erection was meant to protect by keeping invaders out, consequently incarcerating the public by keeping them in.There was a direct relation between the Louvre and La Bastille throughout their existence.In the 14 th century, the Louvre was protecting the west and La Bastille was protecting the east from potential invasions.They created an invisible border surrounding Paris as a protection from outsiders.In the 16 th century, the Louvre was a royal residence while La Bastille became a military base.The Louvre was protecting the royal family by keeping them in, while La Bastille was protecting the city by keeping outsiders out; both restricting involvement between inside and outside.In the 17 th century La Bastille became a prison receiving orders directly from the Louvre.The Louvre was enforcing silence by incarcerating those that break it and then placing them into the Bastille.Silence was imposed thus demanding people to submit to a specific identity that is not their own.In the case of resistance, their identity is snatched out by excluding them from their natural inhabitants and forcing them out of their natural humanistic character.Eventually, in the 18 th century, La Bastille was demolished and the Louvre was turned into a museum.The realization that once the Bastille was physically terminated, the Louvre was conceptually gone.However, the Bastille existed as a museum through the Louvre.The Bastille's heterotopic phenomenon would lie within the cemetery of its memory and the maintained existence of the Louvre as a museum.
Table 4.The existence of the heterotopic principles through the history of La Bastille (Developed by Authors)

Concept of Prison as a Heterotopia in Space
One can understand from Bachelard's Book (1967) "Poetics of space", mentioned in previous sections of this paper (3.2-UnderstandingSpace as a Utopia), that the house is the child's first universe and it is the safest and most secure space in his perspective regardless of its realistic physical strength.It becomes his first desired source away from dystopia, making it his personal utopia.From birth, different people develop their own utopian ideas within their first utopia which is their house.As they grow, they begin attempting to spread their utopias beyond their personal spaces where others exist with their own distinctive understanding of utopia.One's utopia could be interpreted as another's dystopia considering that those unreal spaces are subjectively interpreted and are unique for each individual.Thus, if one's utopia can be another person's dystopia and one's dystopia can be one's utopia, then this makes them selfsame to one another.Through the attempt to force one's utopian thoughts beyond their personal space, while simultaneously others with distinctive ideological perspectives attempt to do the same, heterotopias are brought into existence.During the constant struggle of forcing each utopic understanding on another, heterotopias keep developing and coming into existence; this would result in creating further complications and difficulty to place the heterotopias within the built environment, as they begin to infiltrate personal spaces through complex system without the awareness of the inhabitants that believe that they exist within perceived utopias.Through Bacon's writings (1967) in "Design of Cities" one can understand that in order for designers to be able to create a common shared Utopia, which is also own utopia, they must engage spiritually, emotionally, and sensually with all their capabilities and discipline (as explained in previous sections of this paper in 3.3 Understanding if the Built environment).Within Bacon's Utopia, everybody must be included, which is why he views "involvement" as the final stage of human development.He is interested in the participant, the person that is perceiving the space and their perception of the space.Bacon tries to find an ideal world, a utopia for all, through principles that he created from within his own utopic considerations.The result of these principles would still potentially result in a heterotopia considering that it is an attempt to create a shared utopia which is not a possibility.However, this heterotopia does not need to be of a prison heterotopic nature.The methodology that he has created works as a type of a machine; when an idea is placed in, an action takes place.The way in which this methodology would work positively is through a continuous flow of insight (Bacon, 1967, p. 258).
After studying the prisons, it has been established that they are a phenomenon of heterotopia.However, according to the objectives in which the prisons are created, they are assumed to be essential for a thriving world away from any dystopian nature.According to the interpreted utopic criteria from Bachelard and their translation into the built environment by Bacon, this research examines the four previously addressed prisons by placing them into Bacon's methodology.Through this methodology, it is determined that there is an absence in the communication process with the people of the community and the people that are going to inhabit the space.However, the communication seems to take place only between the people in power.The main idea that is being generated is in itself an idea of power resulting into an action that serves the power.That action is the utopia of those that inhabit the power and the dystopia of those that serve it.
After studying the four prisons, one can find a system of common denominators that occurred simultaneously throughout the prisons.Primarily, the idea of the prison would be a supporting factor in establishing the utopia of the people in power upon the scale of the areas they control making the idea of the power the essence of the cycle.

Criteria of Imprisonment
Heterotopia principles work together as a specific system in order to give birth to the prison: Every prison emerges due to a crisis in which the deviated would be later placed within (Principle1).Throughout the timeline of every prison, people experience and live through Temporal Heterotopias within an ever-forming Eternal Heterotopia (Principle4).Any Temporal Heterotopia would have the potential of becoming an Eternal one.Through The Eternal Heterotopias that keep developing through time, the space changes with time (Principle2) and different heterotopic spaces form within the prison while juxtaposing one another (Principle3) causing new temporal heterotopias to take place adding upon the Eternal Heterotopia.The different spaces that exist, would change according to the needs required; all while maintaining the illusion of an exterior physical prison that aims to protect the public while simultaneously causing more damage than good (heterotopia of compensation) (Principle6).The prison cannot be accessible freely as a physical existence nor conceptually, as one can only experience a certain temporal heterotopia.

Prison Criteria
After establishing the concept of the phenomenon of prison heterotopia, one has to be able to segregate prisons from other heterotopias more effectively.The best way to establish that is through identifying specific criteria.The following criteria would help identify the prison within other heterotopic spaces: 1. First criteria through principle one of heterotopia: Heterotopia of Crisis & Deviation the space is set to: -detach humans from their natural life.-develop various crises by setting natural bases and needs into existential deviations.-impose experience of deviation through unnatural elements.-deviate between right and wrong perceived categories which meant to marginalize the wronged ones.
2. Second criteria through principle two of heterotopia: Function may change through time the space is set to: -reinforce the detachment with the natural life through time and normalize it as a living condition.expand the gap between nature and life to the edge of dystopia.
3. Third criteria through principle three of heterotopia: Juxtaposition of incompatible spaces in a single space the space is set to: -regenerate heterotopias within themselves that synergize with other principles.-impose restrictions on the natural life and the natural environment by merging incompatible spaces.-reinforce the panopticism.
4. Fourth criteria through principle four of heterotopia: Heterochronies: Eternal & Temporal the space is set to: -regenerate the control mechanism through the disorientation in time and space.
5. Fifth criteria through principle five of heterotopia: Freely Inaccessible the space is set to: -expose inmate private space as a common space with restricted access as a heterotopia.-reduce access to the natural environment and the involvement between inside and outside while reducing the privacy of inmates by extending external controlling mechanisms to internal spaces.6. Sixth criteria through principle six of heterotopia: Heterotopia of Illusion & Heterotopia of Compensation the space is set to: -portray the allocation of wronged ones within unnatural spaces, detached from a natural life and their natural environment, as the best means to reach the utopia.
picture its rigid spatial order as a perfect compensation system that may protect utopian society from the phenomenon of dystopia.

Sing Sing prison in New York, USA
It was created and built by prisoners.They had to do so while maintaining complete silence and while following regulations and rules that eliminated any indicators of the prisoner's identity.The space that they were made to create, eliminated any trace of natural life.The cells had no running water, no toilets, no sanitation to the extent where the soil was a potent cause of disease.The walls absorbed moisture in high humidity and did not insulate heat in low temperatures making them an inappropriate place for life.Sing Sing prison cells also had no efficient sunlight; the only source of sunlight was through small, deep windows.The inmates that were inhabiting a single cell were receiving less than one-third of the amount of air necessary, and some of the cells occupied more than a single inmate making them receive one-sixth of the air necessary.The cells did not have an efficient amount of fresh air flow as the only entrance of fresh air was through the gated doors on the cells.These conditions didn't allow for the minimum amount of natural integration needed to maintain life.The prison was detaching the chosen deviated people from their identity, natural life, and natural environment.The prison was disconnecting humans that came from the environment from the environment, it was separating them from life.The prisoners were also obliged to resume their work after the construction of the prison and maintain productivity in silence.The people were used as machines to pursue productivity in an unnatural environment through unnatural means.With time, Sing Sing witnessed different wardens that had different ways of regulating the prison system.The prisoners were given back part of their identity through abolishing lockstep, and striped uniforms, and the silence rule.They were also given freedom of the yard, and they were allowed to participate in different recreational activities.The big change of natural involvement changed the prison as it has given the inmates the minimum natural requirements for life.Consequently, the prison was entirely rebuilt and the inmates were moved into a new structure while abandoning the original one.Conclusion: One cannot create a complete disconnection from the natural ecosystem while maintaining natural life.Part of natural life is natural involvement.Imprisonment occurs when people that deviate from what is unnaturally enforced are taken away from their natural environment and placed within a restricting environment.The restricting environment creates a wall between the deviants and their natural habitat.When people are detached from their natural habitat and ecosystem, their natural life is confiscated.They are being refused their connection with the environment and nature.The more the gap between the human and the natural life and the connection with the natural ecosystem expands, the more the concept of imprisonment reinforces itself.The more the prison integrates with nature and the natural life, the more it loses the concept of imprisonment even if it still resembles a phenomenon of heterotopia.

Alcatraz Federal
Penitentiary in an island in California, USA Alcatraz before it was discovered by the human kind, it was a home for birds that were able to inhabit it through the sky level.After it was discovered by the Native Americans, it was used as a place of exile.This would grant it the concept of heterotopia but it wouldn't gain the concept of prison.They were exiled into a specific space that gained the reputation of housing evil spirits.This is where the heterotopia would be initiated considering that the space was portrayed through unnatural means within the imagination of the mass.However, it was not a prison phenomenon because Alcatraz was still connected to the concept of nature.People were able to pursue their natural life and their connection with the natural ecosystem but with other people that were also exiled creating communities of their own.Through its history, a crisis through an unnatural basis (American/Spanish war) caused the creation of a prison that would be a space in which the deviants would become detached from their natural ecosystem.They would be considered deviations through unnatural means defined by unnatural purposes created by humans abstract thinking ability.The birds would slowly desert the island due to its increased disconnection with its nature due to human involvement.Through natural causes, the space created in Alcatraz was changing its overall function (Military fortress, military prison, super prison).However, the natural causes stayed a stronger factor which resulted in its eventual closure.Conclusion: The unnatural interference with natural life creates further unnatural crises that would result in physical spaces disconnected with the natural ecosystem.Natural life is connected with the natural ecosystem.If there is an interference within the natural life, unnatural spaces are erected in order to accommodate the unnatural life; these spaces would become a heterotopia.When these spaces become completely disconnected with the natural ecosystem, they turn into a prison heterotopia.If the natural life is challenged forcefully within the unnatural spaces, a heterotopia can consequently turn into a dystopia removing all indicators of life.

Tower of London in England, UK
The Tower of London was created for unnatural reasons.It was created to enforce power, consequently maintaining control.However, it was acting as a palace rather than a prison.Throughout its history, it witnessed different dynasties that would kill one another in order to possess the ultimate power; in which by itself is an unnatural element of life and it does not follow the natural order of life.While reinforcing power, the Tower of London would house the Royal family while simultaneously housing those that defied them.The Royal family would be kept inside the palace for their protection while the deviants would be kept inside the palace also for the Royal Family's protection.The deviants are defined according to the power in position.For example, during the reign of Mary the 1 st , Protestant sympathizers faced two choices: conversion, or punishment; which led to 287 kills for an unnatural reason that does not abide by the natural basis of life.However, after her reign came to an end, Elizabeth the 1 st took over and re-established the English Protestant Church.With these unnatural reasons of conflict, crises erupt, resulting in defined deviators.Some of the deviators would be the ones that are asking for their natural rights that they have been detached from.They are then placed within spaces that detach them from their physical nature and ecosystem in order to force them into obedience.When the Royal Family decided not to reside within the Tower of London, it was open to visitors; which meant that involvement between the inside and the outside was introduced.With the reduction of people reinforcing unnatural elements of life, the heterotopic space witnessed a higher interaction with the natural life as an ecosystem.Conclusion: The space in which a main link of power is concentrated, enforcing unnatural regulations of life, unnatural spaces emerge in order to detach those that deviate from the central power.These spaces appear in the form of prisons that detach the deviants from the natural ecosystem forcing them into an unnatural position of living.Through abstract thinking, humans developed unnatural means of living within the natural life.These unnatural measures affect the natural life and detach people from their natural habitat.Humans become overly focused on matters that are created through their abstract thinking and are not of natural basis; Resulting in the ideologies of Utopia and Dystopia.Consequently, leading to attempts to bring Utopias into life.These attempts would fail; however, Heterotopias would stem through the attempts implemented.

la Bastille in Paris, France
La Bastille's initial goal was to protect Paris from the west while the Louvre was protecting Paris from the East.Both created an invisible border around Paris in order to avoid potential invaders; this decreased conceptual involvement on the scale of the area in relation to other colonies.With time, the Bastille stopped serving the concept of life.In the 16 th century the Bastille became a military base, decreasing involvement, and the natural basis of life began to deteriorate.People were beginning to kill one another for ideas that they have developed (the religious civil wars of Paris).In the 17 th century, the Bastille became a prison.At this point the natural basis of life was confiscated.People that would refuse to stay silent, and those that would fight for their freedom to live and act according to their natural instincts would become completely detached from the physical nature and withdrawn from the ecosystem; consequently, eliminating their existence.Outside the prison, Paris was going through an economic crisis and an increase in population that exceeded the food supply.In 1788, Paris would face famine and starvation throughout the countryside.The rich would refuse to pay higher taxes while the poor were forced to pay their taxes regardless of their natural need to maintain their health and life.This was the prison that existed beyond the walls of the Bastille eventually causing its fall.The Bastille was a physical structure that detached people physically from the natural world.The space in which the Bastille existed was a conceptual prison, the people were also detached from their natural rights and needs to live.The people outside the walls of the Bastille would target the Bastille in order to ask for their freedom.They targeted a physical element of incarceration in order to break from their conceptual incarceration.The fall of the Bastille would result in the fall of the system; consequently, the fall of the monarchy.Conclusion: Through a conceptual break in the involvement with the natural life, a physical disconnection from the natural ecosystem is ought to occur.In the Bastille, the people were placed through unnatural disconnection from their natural life through unnatural elements, creating existential crises.Through the crises, deviations were defined through natural terms.Consequently, leading to a physical manifestation defining the deviants into a disconnection from the natural environment forcing them into accepting a disconnection from their natural life.

Conclusions
This research did not intend to develop a solution for a problem; it was meant to recognize a problem through asking a robust question: "Is the prison a physical phenomenon or is it a concept that goes beyond the physical terms?"This research recognizes that imprisonment has not been created based on natural human means.There is a deeper conceptual phenomenon that is taking place in order to result in "prisons".The prison has been determined as a heterotopia through the study of four legendary prisons and their relation to the six principles of heterotopia which have been explained before through their history (Sing Sing prison in New York, USA; Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in an island in California, USA; Tower of London in England, UK; la Bastille in Paris, France).The analysis provided the concept and the criteria of the phenomenon of imprisonment heterotopia which allows people to recognize imprisonment heterotopia from other heterotopias that exist within the built environment.It is crucial to consider that the built environment is a reflection of unspoken issues that exist under the skin of the society and it may lay low for a while but will always surface at a certain point once the society becomes exposed to any potential crises.The authors of this paper see the results of this research as an opportunity to use the concept of imprisonment as a way to trace some of those unspoken issues within the built environment.Within the given context, the purpose of this study is to recognize the existence of the concept of imprisonment and to allow people to be capable of using the criteria deduced as tools to read the built environment.The findings will not only provide tools to read the built environment from the level of physical prisons alone, but other buildings and personal spaces that are being inhabited that could potentially possess the concept of imprisonment regardless of the functionality of the building.
Prison concept exists within space and is capable of extending itself to different spaces.Humans' existence in space is crucial and cannot be altered with; therefore, the awareness of the concept is essential in order to avoid its infiltration to the built environment from the urban scale to the houses from an architectural space.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Structure of the Study (Developed by Authors).

Figure 2 .Figure 3 .
Figure 2. Diagram identifying the focal elements in the interplay between idea and action by Edmund Bacon in his book "Design of Cities" in 1967 p.254

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Concept of Prison Heterotopia through the separation from Life and Nature (Developed by Authors)

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Abstract thinking separating Humans from Animals (Developed by Authors)

Figure 6 .
Figure 6.Development of imprisonment out of unnatural means of life (Developed by Authors).

Figure 7 .
Figure 7. Representation of the Second Principle in Alcatraz Island (Developed by Authors)

Figure 9 .
Figure 9. Edmund Bacon's Methodology adjusted according to the prisons studied (Developed by Authors)