Residential institution

A residential institution or total institution is a facility of work and residence in which a group of people who can't live by themselves, are attending a program, have certain jobs, etc are cut off from the rest of society and together lead cloistered and regimented lives. Reasons for residence in a total institution include needing care due to things like disability or destitution, attending a multi-day\night program, punishment, etc.

Total institutions are highly structured with rigid hierarchies, stringent rules and schedules that regulate every aspect of life. Privacy and civil liberties are limited or non-existent in total institutions and there's a process of dehumanization in most types of facilities. The dehumanization usually includes things like stripping inmates of personal property (with the exception of things like approved medical devices such as eyeglasses with restrictions), forcing them to wear uniforms, etc in an effort to enforce uniformity and discipline.

Types of residential\total institutions

• Care facilities - Places that look after those temporarily or permanently incapable of living independently, such as due to injury, disability or destitution. Includes nursing homes, homeless shelters, hospitals, intermediate care homes, most types of group home, etc

• Institutions designed to protect society from certain classes of people deemed a threat. These people are held in these facilities against their will. Examples include jails\prisons, psychiatric hospitals (especially the crisis stabilization units of such hospitals), and camps of internal exile

• Residential facilities established to better pursue a certain occupational or educational task, when the work takes place in a remote area or requires a perpetual distraction-free environment. Examples include mining camps, ships, employee housing on large farms, estates, or other campuses, as well as boarding schools and college residence halls.

• Enclosed retreats from the rest of the world. Includes all inclusive resorts, summer camps and convents.

Examples

Examples of residential institutions include

• psychiatric hospitals
• prisons
• poorhouses and workhouses
• college residence halls
• military barracks
• Remote work camps\outposts worker housing
• orphanages
• assisted living homes
• nursing homes