In Michel Foucault’s groundbreaking 1975 book, “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison,” he explored how those who violated the laws of the royal sovereign were subject to torture as a form of punishment. Reform meant the goal of punishment had to evolve from sovereign revenge to the correction of deviant or abnormal behavior, so the one needing discipline could be aligned with societal norms.
Foucault reintroduced the reader to the prison model of the Panopticon, designed in 1785 by philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). Foucault sought to demonstrate how power no longer needed to be enforced through consistent brute force.
Panopticon was designed by placing the guard tower in the center of the prison, so the guard could gaze at all the prisoners housed in their individual backlit cells. The prisoners, due to the darkening of the tower, were unable to return the guard’s gaze.
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