At the end of the 18th century, Jeremy Bentham devised a scheme for a prison that he called the panopticon. It soon became an obsession. For twenty years he tried to build it; in the end he failed, but the story of his attempt offers fascinating insights into both Bentham's complex character and the ideas of the period. This book chronicles Bentham's dealings with the politicians as he tried to put his plans into practice, basing the analysis on hitherto unexamined manuscripts. The book assesses the panopticon in the context of penal philosophy and 18th-century punishment, and discusses it as ... More

At the end of the 18th century, Jeremy Bentham devised a scheme for a prison that he called the panopticon. It soon became an obsession. For twenty years he tried to build it; in the end he failed, but the story of his attempt offers fascinating insights into both Bentham's complex character and the ideas of the period. This book chronicles Bentham's dealings with the politicians as he tried to put his plans into practice, basing the analysis on hitherto unexamined manuscripts. The book assesses the panopticon in the context of penal philosophy and 18th-century punishment, and discusses it as an instrument of the modern technology of subjection as revealed and analysed by Foucault. The book illuminates a subject of immense historical importance which is particularly relevant to modern controversies about penal policy.