Film Screening and Director Discussion: Frank Gehry - Building Justice

The inspiring documentary Frank Gehry: Building Justice connects architecture with social policy and follows the legendary architect Frank Gehry as he sets out to answer whether there is a better way to design prisons. Collaborating with architecture students from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the Yale School of Architecture, former inmates, and prison experts, Gehry and his colleagues grapple with complex social, political, emotional, structural, and aesthetic challenges to re-envision the future of incarceration. Together, they explore all aspects of prison design, learning first-hand the design flaws of prison life from women who have been incarcerated in the worst prisons in all of the United States. Frank Gehry: Building Justice examines both the American criminal justice system and the issue of prison design through architecture students' point of view, as they look into the future of American incarceration policy.

Speakers:
Ultan Guilfoyle, Filmmaker, Frank Gehry: Building Justice
Deanna Logan, Director, Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice
Stanley Richards, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Fortune Society, Inc.

Moderator:
Beverly Prior, FAIA, LEED AP, NCARB, DBIA, Vice President, California Senior Program Manager for NYC Borough Based Jails Program, AECOM-Hill Joint Venture

About the Speakers:
Ultan Guilfoyle is an esteemed filmmaker, producer, and curator whose career spans the intersections of architecture, design, and cinema. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, where he majored in English and Philosophy, Guilfoyle's scholarly approach to visual storytelling reflects a deep engagement with intellectual and aesthetic traditions. Best known for his collaboration with Frank Gehry on the critically acclaimed documentary Sketches of Frank Gehry (2005), Guilfoyle has consistently elevated architectural discourse through film. His body of work reveals a profound understanding of how visual media can articulate the complexities of spatial design, human creativity, and the cultural significance of the built environment. Guilfoyle served as a Senior Producer at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, where he played a pivotal role in developing cross-disciplinary exhibitions that bridged art, architecture, and technology. His academic contributions include guest lectures and workshops at institutions such as Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Architectural Association in London, where he has inspired a generation of architects and filmmakers. A frequent collaborator with world-renowned architects and designers, Guilfoyle continues to advocate for the critical role of storytelling in architecture, emphasizing its power to illuminate the human experience and shape public understanding of design excellence.

Deanna Logan serves as the Director of MOCJ. She previously served as the General Counsel and Deputy Director of Crime Strategies for the office. She joined MOCJ in 2019 as the Deputy Director of Crime Strategies, and coordinated the efforts of courts, DOC, CHS, DSS, DOF and NYPD to meet the requirements of the City’s Criminal Justice Reform Act. Prior to joining MOCJ she worked with DA Darcel Clark to design, establish and supervise the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau. Prior to her work in the Bronx, Logan served as the Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Department of Correction (DOC), where she worked to reform and strengthen internal discipline. The first eight years of Deanna’s career was spent in public service as an Assistant District Attorney in the Office of the New York County District Attorney (DANY). There she investigated and prosecuted felony cases involving narcotics violations, domestic violence, sexual assaults and child abuse. After leaving DANY, she joined the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) as a litigator addressing misconduct issues. She eventually became the Managing Director of Rule Development at the NYSE responsible for enforcing the rules that govern the markets and impact the industry while representing the NYSE before the Securities and Exchange Commission. After NYSE, she spent a short time at Barclays Capital Market Makers working as the Director of Compliance on the trading Floor. Logan returned to public service when she joined the DOC. She holds a BA in political science from Boston University and earned her J.D. at New York University School of Law.

Stanley Richards is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Fortune Society (Fortune), a service and advocacy non-profit organization established in 1967 and based in New York City whose mission is to support successful reentry from prison and promote alternatives to incarceration. Richards is a formerly incarcerated man of color with decades of experience in the criminal justice field. In 2014, he was recognized by the Obama administration as a Champion of Change for his commitment to helping individuals impacted by the justice system. Richards also became the first formerly incarcerated person to be appointed to the NYC Board of Correction. As Vice Chair of the Board of Correction, in June 2020, he was appointed to lead the Working Group to End Punitive Segregation. In July 2021, he was appointed to become the First Deputy Commissioner of Programs and Operations at the New York City Department of Correction (NYCDOC). He was the first formerly incarcerated person to serve this second highest position within the NYCDOC, the second largest jail system in the country. Richards returned to the Fortune Society as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 2022, and became the President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2024 and now leads a team of over 500 employees to continue expanding the Fortune’s impact to support individuals who have been affected by the criminal legal system. His other appointments include the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, which released a blueprint for the future of criminal justice in NYC; the Working Group on Design, a subcommittee of the Implementation Task Force, to ensure effective implementation of the “Smaller, Safer, Fairer: A Roadmap to Closing Rikers Island” initiative; the NYC Commission on Community Reinvestment and the Closure of Riker’s Island; and other taskforces on criminal justice issues. Richards is a graduate of Medaille College, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business: Institute for Not-For-Profit Management Executive Level Program, and the Robert Wood Johnson Fellowship Program.

After decades of experience as a national leader in the planning and design of justice facilities, Beverly Prior relocated from California to New York City in 2019 to build and lead the team that would partner with the Department of Design and Construction in procuring and implementing NYC’s justice reform through design-build. Now underway, the goal of the Borough Based Jails Program is to close Rikers Island and build 4 new community-based facilities, one each in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and The Bronx. In seeking better outcomes for those engaged in and affected by the justice system—people in custody, custody staff, program providers, families, and the community—Prior seeks to identify intersections between the discipline of corrections and that of other disciplines such as human experience design, wellness, resilience, organizational development, community engagement, and public health. With a deep respect for the need for architects and managers to be stewards of public funding, she advocates for the indirect work that engages and inspires enduring improvements in design and operations.