Foucault Panopticon Prison

Bentham’s plan of the Panopticon prison is one of the most significant and iconic aspects of Foucault’s work as he analysed the use of it in order to control behaviour. In order to properly examine and analyse Foucault’s perception of how the panoptic power instils discipline I will firstly describe the physical layout in order to then break down the individual aspects of this prison and how Foucault believes it will work. The first aspect of the Panopticon as noted by Foucault (1977) is the tower, this central tower that is surrounded by a ring of cells. The tower has wide windows facing the cells and the cells have two windows, one facing towards the centre tower and another facing outside in order to allow natural light in and to make the

Firstly through the cells, the two large windows on both sides of the cells creates very little room for concealment, re are no dark corners to hide in and therefore this is the first aspect of how visibility is a trap, he claims “the inmate will constantly have before his eyes the tall outline of the central tower from which he is being spied upon” (Foucault, 1977:201). The image of the tower and the fact is it constantly in view combined with the lack of visible concealment is one of the first ways that visibility becomes a form of control. The tower is the second aspect of the prison that shows how visibility is a trap; this is because the warden or observer in the tower is deliberately invisible to the prisoner. The combination of the blinds, the light and the fact that there are no audible signs of individuals entering or leaving the tower means that the prisoner has no way of knowing that they are being watched. “The inmate must never know whether he is being looked at at any moment; but he must always be sure that he may always be so” (Foucault, 1977:201) as far as the inmate is concerned they are under constant surveillance this means they believe that they are constantly visible and Foucault claims that this is how power is