The article revolves around the negative implications of the Kingston Penitentiary, a prison designed to provide reform for criminals through intensive labor, the use of the panopticon model, and implementation of harsh disciplinary practices. It represents a social institution which is expected to embody discipline and social control, and exert power over its inmates. However, the article highlights the institution’s inability to take effective disciplinary action against its inmates (Neufeld 1998) In addition, Michael Foucault’s theories are critiqued in relation to the faulty Penitentiary Model. Foucault’s understanding of power and surveillance provided little to no justification for the institution’s downfall. This paper will argue that the Penitentiary model failed due to poor administration, harsh disciplinary practices and the perpetuation of gender inequalities. The Kingston Penitentiary is known for its grueling forms of punishment and high levels of social control. For …show more content…
(Neufeld 1998: 121) The Kingston Penitentiary may argue from a metaphorical stance that tubbing can be regarded as a form of welfare which aims to reform the individual through the “cleansing of their sins” for instance. On the other hand, Foucault states, “the prisoner’s body becomes less important than the soul” (Neufeld 1998: 98) In these particular situations, the desire for the establishment of power relations trumps all. He solely believes that punishment is necessary for those who have committed a crime because it highlights
People expect a penitentiary to hold inmates, especially dangerous ones, for as long as the court determines they should serve. Kingston Penitentiary has been doing that for many years. But it has also dedicated to the reform of inmates. What that means has changed dramatically over time. (Curtis et al, 1985)
Understanding the organization of prisons and how the are can is a very complex mechanism. In “Stateville: The penitentiary in Mass Society”, Jacobs seeks to understand the organization in the Stateville prison system, one of the world’s toughest prisons. Giving the history of the prison does this and how things ran under different wardens, and how things were coupled throughout different organizations. When looking at these things Jacobs also points out issues in the prison and how they happened under what type of organization. By doing this, Stateville is easily relatable to understand leadership and authority.
Davis discusses the history of the justice system and how the Penitentiary replaced capitol and corporal punishment. She defines Penitentiary as “Imprisonment was regarded as rehabilitative and the penitentiary prison was devised to provide convicts with the conditions for reflecting on their crimes and, through penitence, for reshaping their habits even their souls.3” though the idea of the penitentiary is arguable a new idea during the American Revolution. The penitentiary process was so that prisoners could learn from what they have done by a process of separation and rehabilitation. After slavery and during the early 20th century the level of crime rates rose during the early 1920’s to 1940’s. In the Article Less crime more punishment Adler4,
Every civilization in history has had rules, and citizens who break them. To this day governments struggle to figure out the best way to deal with their criminals in ways that help both society and those that commit the crimes. Imprisonment has historically been the popular solution. However, there are many instances in which people are sent to prison that would be better served for community service, rehab, or some other form of punishment. Prison affects more than just the prisoner; the families, friends, employers, and communities of the incarcerated also pay a price. Prison as a punishment has its pros and cons; although it may be necessary for some, it can be harmful for those who would be better suited for alternative means of punishment.
The correctional system is based on helping offenders become part of society and not commit any crimes. Many prisons begin the correcting criminals since they are inside the jails, but many prisons do not. Prisons provide prisoners with jobs inside the prison where they get very little pay close to nothing and many have programs that will help them advance their education or get their high school diploma. There are various programs prisons provide to prisoners to help them get a job or have a skill when they are released from prison. In contrast, prisons that do not provide programs or help to prisoners rehabilitate and enter society again will be more likely to commit another crime and go back to jail. The Shawshank Redemption prison did not
One in every 108 adults were placed behind bars in 2012 (Dimon). That made for 2.2 million prisoners in the United States ("The Sentencing Project News - Incarceration"). This is almost the population of Houston, Texas ("Facts and Figures"). In the years following its creation, the correctional system has become a rougher place to live with nearly one percent of the whole United States population behind bars. Both the mental illness and murder rates have increased, along with return rate of prisoners. The increase of problems can be blamed on the many factors including the unstable prison environment, the rapid spread of disease and the high return rate. In general, U.S. prisoners are far worse off than those in other countries in terms
Three walls. One toilet seat. Bars made of mild steel and a lock only accessible to men who government calls authority figures. Prison systems are known for three things: to protect the people, to punish the criminal and to rehabilitate the prisoner so that a crime will not be further committed. However, it has been causing ongoing controversy on whether or not it has been stripping away the earned rights of citizens or indeed helping them become “better” for society.
In Western cultures imprisonment is the universal method of punishing criminals (Chapman 571). According to criminologists locking up criminals may not even be an effective form of punishment. First, the prison sentences do not serve as an example to deter future criminals, which is indicated, in the increased rates of criminal behavior over the years. Secondly, prisons may protect the average citizen from crimes but the violence is then diverted to prison workers and other inmates. Finally, inmates are locked together which impedes their rehabilitation and exposes them too more criminal
the history of man, it is by no means true that society is unable to
Michel Foucault may be regarded as the most influential twentieth-century philosopher on the history of systems of thought. His theories focus on the relationship between power and knowledge, and how such may be used as a form of social control through institutions in society. In “Truth and Juridical Forms,” Foucault addresses the development of the nineteenth-century penal regime, which completely transformed the operation of the traditional penal justice system. In doing so, Foucault famously compares contemporary society to a prison- “prison is not so unlike what happens every day.” Ultimately, Foucault attempts to exemplify the way in which disciplinary power has become exercised in everyday institutions according to normalization under the authority network of individuals such that all relationships may be considered power relations. Thus, all aspects of society follow the model of a prison based on domination. While all aspects of society take the shape of prison, most individuals may remainignorant of such- perhaps just as they are supposed to. As a result, members of society unconsciously participate in the disciplinary power that aims to “normalize,” thus contributing to and perpetuating the contemporary form of social control. Accordingly, the modern penal regime may be regarded as the most effective system of societal discipline. [OK – SOLID INTRO]
As probably studied in any law or history class, punishment in medieval times consisted of executions, and torture. Simply put, punishment entailed brutality and violence. However, with time, prisons had finally been established. In modern society, punishment is based on imprisonment, meaning a criminal is placed within a cell and kept there for a period of time, yet there are many states and countries that still permit ‘capital punishment’ for harsh crimes. The aim of this form of punishment had been to establish authority, particularly power. According to Foucault, this power means that for example in a penitentiary, there is a guard and a prisoner. The guard evidently has power over the prisoner, as he is the key holder, and he is the one that has the authority to restrain the individual from doing anything and keep him in his cell. Discipline is methods that are used by arranging a person’s actions and their experiences. Jails aim to reform a criminal and to deter crime. To reform means to transform the criminal to fit society’s norms and standards. In addition, a goal they have is to de...
The Jamaican prison system is different from the American prison system. In Jamaica, the inmates can stay in the jail for more than three hundred and sixty five days depending on their cases. Once they are transferred to the prison, the family can visit them during the week and on the weekends. The families are allowed to bring food and clothing for their family members. In order for these items to enter the prison, the prison guards have to make sure that the foods are in plastic containers and be searched properly. However, in U.S. they are not allowed to bring food for inmates in addition to that they provide them medicals care and other social
Mauer, Marc. "The Race to Incarcerate." The Case For Penal Abolition. Ed. W. Gordon West and Ruth Morris. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars? Press, 2000. 89-99.
Foucault wrote a book called Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison explaining his thoughts on how he discipline should be taught. Discipline and Punish is a book about the emergence of the prison system. The conclusion of the book in relation to this subject matter is that the prison is an institution, the objective purpose of which is to produce criminality and recidivism. The system encompasses the movement that calls for reform of the prisons as an integral and permanent part. Foucault states that The more important general theme of the book is that of “discipline” in the penal sense, a specific historical form of power that was taken up by the state with professional soldiering in the 17th century, and spread widely across society, first via the panoptic prison, then via the division of labor in the factory and universal education. The purpose of discipline is to produce “docile bodies,” the individual movements of which can be controlled, and which in its turn involves the psychological monitoring and control of individuals, indeed which for Foucault produces individuals as
The use of prison as a form of punishment began to become popular in the early 19th century. This was because transportation to colonies had started to decrease; transportation was the removing of an individual, in this case an offender, from its country to another country; usually for a period of seven to ten years and in some cases for ever. During this time prison was now being used as a means for punishment, this was in response to the declining of transportation to colonies. Thus, instead of transporting offenders to other colonies they were now being locked away behind high walls of the prison. Coyle (2005). To say whether using prison as a form of punishment has aid in the quest of tackling the crime problem one must first consider the purposes of the prison.