The oldest parts of the Cook County jail complex in Chicago are set to be demolished, offering an opportunity to rethink how the space could be used.
Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images North AmericaDesign
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Over the last decade, hundreds of jails and prisons in the U.S. have closed, inspiring architects and designers to reimagine sites of incarceration as positive community spaces.
Maria Gaspar first visited Cook County Jail during elementary school, in 1992, as part of a Scared Straight program. Growing up nearby, in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, she was well acquainted with the detention facility’s 30-foot walls and domineering presence.
“It was part of my backyard,” she says.