Inmates of women’s prison are seeing red

The unlikely co-operative of interior designers and UK Detention Services has resulted in the first purpose-built women’s prison for 30 years, which opens in Ashford, Kent this week.

Designed with ‘women prisoners in mind’, the jail is intended to be ‘less intimidating and more domestic,’ according to Janine McDowell, its new director. Why then, do the interiors sport bright red cell bars, the colour, surely, of anger and distress?