Essay on "History of Punishment"

Essay 13 pages (4559 words) Sources: 9

[EXCERPT] . . . .

History Of Punishment

Critically assess Foucault's thesis on the birth of the prison; is his argument a convincing one?

Disciplinary punishment gives professionals like psychologists, program administrators, and parole officers power over the prisoner, most particularly in that the prisoner's length of stay depends on the professionals' judgment. Foucault argues that disciplinary punishment leads to self-policing by the public as opposed to brutal displays of power from the Monarchical period. Foucault says that between the 17th and 18th centuries a new, more restrained form of power was being exercised across nations. He calls this form of power discipline. Soldiers could be made and shaped rather than just being chosen because of their natural characteristics. Knowledge and power are fundamental to Foucault's analysis. He questions ordinary concepts like justice or equality and asks where these concepts came from and who they benefit. The process of observing and evaluating people leads to more and more knowledge about them (Prisons and Surveillance, n.d.).

Incarceration, as the main form of punishment, deterrence, reform, or rehabilitation of criminal offenders, has a history of over two hundred years. At different times and in different places, the modern prison has displaced pre-modern types of punishment such as bodily mutilation, banishment, slavery, fines, and execution. Over the years the contemporary prison has emerged in a global historical context as articulated, situated, and informed by local circumstances (Pincince, 2008).

Ancient prisons have been replaced by clear and visible ones, but Foucault believed that this was nothing more than a visibility trap. He felt that is was through this visibility that modern society exercises its controlling systems of power and knowledge. Increasing visibility leads to power situated on an increasingly individualized level, shown by the likelihood for institutions to track people throughout their lives. "Foucault suggests that a "carceral continuum" runs through modern society, from the maximum security prison, through secure accommodation, probation, social workers, police, and teachers, to our everyday working and domestic lives. All are connected by the (witting or unwitting) supervision (surveillance, application of norms of acceptable behaviour) of some humans by others" (Prisons and Surveillance, n.d.).

Foucault described the modern history of the European prison as a small part of the development of an immense system of incarceration. For Foucault, the new social sciences were a basis for disciplinary administrative structures which separated and restrained newly recognized and classified groups of people who were said to differ from the rational and politically desirable character type. "Foucault warned that a carceral nightmare was unfolding upon earth with humanity caught, like a fly within a web, as disciplinary institution built upon disciplinary institution, all on the false, lurid promise of a fabricated knowledge promising a rational, liberated and beneficent future" (Koh, 1999).

What Foucault calls discipline is best understood as an outline or configuration in power and knowledge relations which has come to characterise the organisation of a diversity of institutions including not only disciplinary like those such as the prison but also the workplace. Disciplinary institutions share a quantity of common features: the classification of groups of people, their understanding in relations of dependence and loyalty, the ordering of personal activity and time, joined with thorough monitoring and surveillance which is a form of power that persuades compliant but industrious performance (Barratt, 2002).

Foucault states that during the mid-18th Century the right to punish was directly associated to the power of the King. Crimes committed throughout this time were not crimes against the public good, but a personal disrespect to the King himself. The public displays of torture and execution were public confirmations of the King's power to rule and to punish. As public tortures and executions continued, the people subjected to torture became heroes, particularly if the punishment was too extreme for the crime committed. The convicted person was given an opportunity to speak prior to the execution. This gave him a chance to apologize for his crimes, but frequently it was used as a time to speak against the throne and the executioners. On a lot of occasions the crowds gathered around to view the event would riot against the executioner, stopping the event from continuing (Panopticism, n.d.).

Near the end of the 18th Century, protests against public execution and torture continued. The public wanted punishment with no torture, which led to the invention of prison. Deprivation of liberty became the main type of punishment. Liberty is the one thing that is alike to everyone. Fines hurt the poor more than the rich, but taking away freedom caused the same intensity of discomfort to everyone. Prisons became more than just places were liberty was taken away; they were places where discipline could be encouraged. Discipline was a drive to implant useful, social qualities into the criminals. It was an effort to reform the criminal so upon their release, they would be less likely to re-offend and more likely to be a productive member of society (Panopticism, n.d.).

The discipline that prisons tried to install in criminals was comparable to the discipline in military units. The basic notion of discipline is that one will be rewarded for accomplishment, and be punished for lack of accomplishment or non-conformity. Forcing the prisoners to live and work under strict rules instilled discipline. The prisoners were forced to use every minute that they were awake constructively. This was social training to prepare people for a life of productivity when released (Panopticism, n.d.).

In order to observe the progress of prisoners constant supervision was required. A prison warder watched criminals at all time to make sure they followed the rules. Constant supervision led to the development of institutional designs like Jeremy Bentham's panopticon. The panopticon had cells built around a central tower. The cells opened in the front so the guards in the tower could see inside. The cells had windows in the rear of the cell illuminating the prisoner making him easy to see. The windows of the tower had Venetian blinds permitting the guards to see out, but stopping the prisoners from seeing inside. The prisoner never knew at any given point in time if they were being watched or not, therefore they continually obeyed the rules (Panopticism, n.d.).

The principal on which Bentham's Panopticon was based was at the edge there was an annular building; in the center there was a tower that contained wide windows that opened onto the inner side of the ring; on the peripheral there was a building divided into cells, each of which extended the whole width of the building; all having two windows, one on the inside, parallel to the windows of the tower; the other, on the outside, allowing the light to cross the cell from one end to the other. All that was needed was to place a supervisor in a central tower. This panoptic mechanism arranged spatial unities that made it possible to see continually and to recognize people right away. This concept was the complete opposite of the dungeon; or rather of its three functions, to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide. It preserved only the first and eliminates the other two. Full lighting and the eye of a supervisor captured better than darkness, which in the end protected. Visibility was a trap (Alford, 2000).

This set up made it possible to avoid those compact, swarming, howling masses that were often found in places of imprisonment. Each person was in their place, securely confined to a cell from which they could be seen from the front by the supervisor. The side walls prevented them from coming into contact with other prisoners, so essentially they could be seen but they could not see. The arrangement of this room, opposite the central tower, imposed on the prisoner an axial visibility; but the divisions of the ring, those separated cells, implied a sideways invisibility. And this invisibility was the guarantee of order. The inmates were in no danger of plotting an attempt to escape or planning new crimes for the future. The crowd, a compact mass, a locus of multiple exchanges, individualities merging together, a collective effect, was abolished and replaced by a compilation of separated individualities. From the point-of-view of the guard, it was a multiplicity that could be numbered and supervised; from the point-of-view of the inmates it was sequestered and observed solitude (Alford, 2000).

For this reason the major effect of the Panopticon was to induce in the prisoner a state of mindful and permanent visibility that promises the automatic functioning of power. So to position things that the observation is permanent in its effects, even if it is irregular in its action is that the precision of power should tend to provide its actual exercise unnecessary. This architectural apparatus was a machine for creating and sustaining a power relation independent of the person who exercises it. In short, the inmates should be caught up in a power situation of which they are themselves the bearers. In order to achieve this, it is at once too… READ MORE

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