LIGHT AND HEALTH
OUT OF CONTROL? LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT
Lighting in a Correctional Facility
Figure 1. Dayroom, illuminated by direct/indirect linear pendants and clerestory windows.
By Jennifer Brons, MSc, Research Program Director, Light and Health Research Center, Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, New York, NY. Jay Farbstein, PhD, FAIA, President, Jay Farbstein & Associates, Inc., Los Angeles, CA (former chair of the AIA Academy of Architecture for Justice’s Research Committee).
Circadian-effective lighting has gained traction in institutional settings because of its potential to improve sleep, mood, and behavior.1, 2 These benefits are particularly compelling in correctional environments, where both residents and staff may be vulnerable to disrupted light-dark cycles. In this project, a new mental health housing unit within a correctional facility incorporated a color-tunable lighting system designed by the project engineers to support
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designing lighting
circadian entrainment. The Light and Health Research Center was later asked to evaluate whether the installed system delivered meaningful circadian and human benefits. What follows is not a study of outcomes, but a lesson in implementation. Despite a thoughtful design intent, technical and control system failures unfortunately prevented the system from delivering predictable, verifiable light exposure. Those failures ultimately made the research infeasible.