The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by
English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth
century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to
observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the prisoners
being able to tell if they are being observed or not, thus
conveying a "sentiment of an invisible omniscience." In his
own words, Bentham described the Panopticon as "a new
mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity
hitherto without example."
Bentham derived the idea from the plan of a military school
in Paris designed for easy supervision, itself conceived by
his brother Samuel who arrived at it as a solution to the
complexities involved in the handling of large numbers of
men. Bentham supplemented this principle with the idea of
contract management, that is, an administration by contract
as opposed to trust, where the director would have a pecuniary interest in lowering the
average rate of mortality. The Panopticon was intended to be cheaper than the prisons of his
time, as it required fewer staff; "Allow me to construct a prison on this model," Bentham
requested to a Committee for the Reform of Criminal Law, "I will be the gaoler. You will see
... that the gaoler will have no salary -- will cost nothing to the nation." As the watchmen
cannot be seen, they need not be on duty at all times, effectively leaving the watching to the
watched. According to Bentham's design, the prisoners would also be used as menial labour
walking on wheels to spin looms or run a water wheel. This would decrease the cost of the
prison and give a possible source of income.
Bentham devoted a large part of his time and almost his whole fortune to promote the
construction of a prison based on his scheme. After many years and innumerable political and
financial difficulties, he eventually obtained a favourable sanction from Parliament for the
purchase of a place to erect the prison, but in 1811 after Prime Minister Spencer Perceval
(1809-1812) refused to authorise the purchase of the land, the project was finally abandoned.
In 1813 he was awarded a sum of £23,000 in compensation for his monetary loss which did
little to alleviate Bentham's ensuing unhappiness.
Panopticon, 1791 by Jeremy
Bentham
The Panopticon is widely, but
erroneously, believed to have
influenced the design of Pentonville
Prison in North London, Armagh
Gaol in Northern Ireland, and Eastern
State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.
These, however, were Victorian
examples of the Separate system,
which was more about prisoner
isolation than prisoner surveillance;
in fact, the separate system makes
surveillance quite difficult. No true
panopticons were built in Britain
during Bentham's lifetime, and very few anywhere in the British Empire.
Many modern prisons built today are built in a "podular" design influenced by the Panopticon
design, in intent and basic organization if not in exact form. As compared to traditional
"cellblock" designs, in which rectangular buildings contain tiers of cells one atop the other in
front of a walkway along which correctional officers patrol, modern prisons are often
constructed with triangular or trapezoidal-shaped buildings known as "pods" or "modules". In
these designs, cells are laid out in three or fewer tiers arrayed around an elevated central
control station which affords a single correctional officer full view of all cells within either a
270º or 180º field of view (180º is usually considered a closer level of supervision). Control of
cell doors, CCTV monitors, and communications are all conducted from the control station.
The correctional officer, depending on the level of security, may be armed with nonlethal and
lethal weapons to cover the pod as well. Increasingly, meals, laundry, commissary items and
other goods and services are dispatched directly to the pods or individual cells. These design
points, whatever their deliberate or incidental psychological and social effects, serve to
maximize the number of prisoners that can be controlled and monitored by one individual,
reducing staffing; as well as restricting prisoner movement as tightly as possible.
Prison Presidio Modelo, Isla de la Juventud , Cuba
The Panopticon has been suggested as an "open" hospital architecture: "Hospitals required
knowledge of contacts, contagions, proximity and crowding... at the same time to divide space
and keep it open, assuring a surveillance which is both global and individualising", 1977
interview (preface to French edition of Jeremy Bentham's "Panopticon").
The Worcester State Hospital, constructed in the late 19th century extensively employed
panoptic structures to allow more efficient observation of the inmates. It was considered a
model facility at the time.
The only industrial building ever to be built on the Panopticon principle was the Round Mill
in Belper, Derbyshire, England. Constructed in 1811 it fell into disuse by the beginning of the
twentieth century and was demolished in 1959.
Contemporary social critics often assert that technology has allowed for the deployment of
panoptic structures invisibly throughout society. Surveillance by closed-circuit television
(CCTV) cameras in public spaces is an example of a technology that brings the gaze of a
superior into the daily lives of the populace. Further, Middlesbrough, a town in the North of
England, has put loudspeakers to the CCTV cameras. They can transmit the voice of a camera
supervisor.
CCTV surveillance is similar to the methods used in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four
by the thought police to control the citizenry. At any moment, a person may or may not be
being observed via a telescreen, though whether one is being watched at any given moment is
unknown to that person.
In the 2004 video game Silent Hill 4: The Room, there is a prison that is seemingly based on
the Panopticon design. The 1998 video game Sanitarium features a mental asylum designed as
Panopticon.
Many networks in schools and businesses now employ monitoring technologies to create a
panoptic atmosphere.