This is certainly a sound explanation – but is it a good one? If we optimize school buildings and prison buildings in a way that they end up being indistinguishable from one another, maybe we should reconsider the metrics we are optimizing for.
I'm not sure I get what's the problem with schools and prisons looking the same. Prisons should look like the rest of the world after all, they're supposed to be places where you learn to function in society.
To me, they looked like buildings. Neither looked horrifying, they were just normal buildings. You would have to make prison intentionally bad looking from outside to make some effect. And i wild still strongly preferred to go to school rather then prison.
Prisons have to be resistant to the attempts of their occupants to escape, or to cause damage or destruction. This doesn't really seem compatible with warm and inviting.
You are completely missing the point. Try https://www.schoolprison.com/ and you'll see how the esthetic of building can change dramatically while keeping the same requirements of efficiency, cost and safety.
