Non-prison confinement as soft carceralism: Architectural ethics and the post-release detention regime in Thailand

Abstract

This article critically examines Thailand’s emerging policy of post-release confinement under the 2022 Recidivism Prevention Act, which authorises the non-prison detention of high-risk ex-offenders. Despite being intended as a rehabilitative alternative, such spaces risk becoming ‘soft carceral’ environments, subtly punitive and symbolically prison-like. Drawing on stakeholder interviews, site observations and design workshops, the study explores three pilot and proposed sites. Findings revealed that spatial design is deeply entangled with levels of control, perceptions of risk and the tension between security and human dignity. Three risk-based categories (red, yellow and green) informed differentiated spatial layouts and degrees of autonomy. The article argues that architecture plays a dual role, as both a tool of state surveillance and a potential medium of reintegration. Without an ethics-driven, participatory design process, post-release facilities may reinforce stigma and exclusion. To genuinely support reintegration, such environments must foster normalcy, trust and a sense of belonging.