Riihimäen vankila

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Riihimäki Prison is one of the large central prisons built in the 1920s and 1930s, and it ranks among the principal results of prison construction of its time. It was originally an agricultural prison, like the central prisons at Konnunsuo in Joutseno and Sukeva in Sonkajärvi, but agricultural activity at Riihimäki was later abandoned.

The prison lies north of the actual urban area, beside the railway. The institution, fitted to the hill, comprises, inside a high perimeter wall, the main building with its cell and administration wings, and the workshop building. Some supplementary newer spaces have been built, but the results of the main building phase dominate the whole.

The entrance composition of the institution comprises a park street rising up the hill, at its end the gatehouse attached to the perimeter wall, and finally the austere portal of the main building. At the institution's key architectural points, such as the classicist exterior of the gatehouse in particular, a special sense of representativeness was sought.

South of the walled institution, in a park-like setting, is a group of apartment blocks built in the 1930s and 1940s as staff housing.

History

The need for prison places grew considerably over the course of the 1920s, and in 1929 it was decided to build a new prison on the outskirts of what was then the market town of Riihimäki, close to good railway connections. The institution was designed by the architect of the vankeinhoitolaitos, Uno Sjöholm. Construction of the prison and residential buildings began in 1929 and continued until the late 1930s: transformer house 1929, wall 1930, gatehouse 1931, residential buildings 1935 and main building 1934-1936. During construction Riihimäki served as a substitute prison; the actual central prison was established in 1939 once the buildings were completed.

The building stock inside the wall has not been thoroughly repaired since its completion. The prison underwent extensive basic renovation in 2003-2005.

The neighbouring bog area was cultivated as farmland for the prison. The Sammalisto cowsheds of the prison farm and the farm manager's and work enterprise manager's residential houses were built in 1939. The large hay barns of Sammalistonsuo were completed in the 1930s.