![]() ![]() Bentham also thought that Reveley's prison design could be used for factories, asylums, hospitals, and schools. Bentham reasoned that if the prisoners of the panopticon prison could be seen but never knew when they were watched, the prisoners would need to follow the rules. Bentham commissioned drawings from an architect, Willey Reveley. The apparently constant surveillance of the prison inmates by the panopticon manager and the occasional observation of the manager by the general public was to solve the age old philosophic question: " Who guards the guards?" īentham continued to develop the panopticon concept, as industrialisation advanced in England and an increasing number of workers were required to work in ever larger factories. The unaccountable gaoler was to be observed by the general public and public officials. Bentham's inspection principle applied not only to the inmates of the panopticon prison, but also the manager. Bentham tried to put his duty and interest junction principle into practice by encouraging a public debate on prisons. : 385īentham thought that the chief mechanism that would bring the manager of the panopticon prison in line with the duty to be humane would be publicity. While in his lifetime Bentham was a prolific letter writer, he published little and remained obscure to the public until his death. : xxxviii Prior to fleshing out his ideas of a panopticon prison, Bentham had drafted a complete penal code and explored fundamental legal theory. ![]() Back in England, Bentham, with the assistance of his brother, continued to develop his theory on the panopticon. Bentham applied his brother's ideas on the constant observation of workers to prisons. While residing with his brother in Krichev, Bentham sketched out the concept of the panopticon in letters. : xxxviii Bentham arrived in Krichev in early 1786 and stayed for almost two years. In 1785, Jeremy Bentham, an English social reformer and founder of utilitarianism, travelled to Krichev in Mogilev Governorate of the Russian Empire (modern Belarus) to visit his brother, Samuel, who accompanied Prince Potemkin. The word panopticon derives from the Greek word for "all seeing" – panoptes. It is his prison that is now most widely meant by the term "panopticon".Įlevated view of the panopticon prison, by Reveley 1791. Bentham conceived the basic plan as being equally applicable to hospitals, schools, sanatoriums, and asylums, but he devoted most of his efforts to developing a design for a panopticon prison. From the centre, the manager or staff of the institution are able to watch the inmates. The architecture consists of a rotunda with an inspection house at its centre. Thus, the inmates are effectively compelled to regulate their own behaviour. The concept of the design is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be observed by a single security guard, without the inmates being able to tell whether they are being watched.Īlthough it is physically impossible for the single guard to observe all the inmates' cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that they are motivated to act as though they are being watched at all times. The panopticon is a type of institutional building and a system of control designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. Plan of Jeremy Bentham's panopticon prison, drawn by Willey Reveley in 1791 ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |