why does prisons have often very specific building layouts

Question

Such as in Rikers Island, NYC where are many prison buildings shaped to letter X (or plus sign)
and in Europe they are often shaped into circle or pentagon/hexagon shapes.

In: 0

Answer 1

There was a design plan to reduce the number of staff the prison officer could look down a corridor and see all the prisoners and see if anything was going on reducing the number of corners and nooks helps them maintain control.