Comments on: Panopticon Prisons

By: Ethan

Ethan — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:48:24 +0000

The earliest of these ever built in the U. S. was Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA.

By: Chet

Chet — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:45:16 +0000

Aha, thanks Rob. That makes sense now, i was sure i was missing something

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:53:00 +0000

Doesn’t look like that Chicago Public Radio link is active for the old jail. If you go to http://www.thinkbluemarketing.com/visitors/museums.html and then click Old Jail along the right side, you’ll get the info.

“The rotary cellblock consists of a two-tiered turntable divided into pie-shaped wedges, with a total of 16 cells. The turntable is housed within a stationary steel cage with one opening per story.

The jailer would simply rotate the mechanism to bring a particular cell to the opening, and in this way, prisoners were put into and let out of the cells. The turntable remained in operation until 1939.”

By: Joe P

Joe P — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:38:38 +0000

This reminds me of the “Rotary Jail” which is now the Old Jail museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana, US. There were two stories of jail cells (four on each level) arranged in a cylinder on a turntable. There was only one entrance to the jail, so to get access to a cell, the guard would turn a crank to move the cylinder to the cell he wanted and then he could open the door. Select the “Old Jail Museum” from this web site.

http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/848/series_features/848_coolspots.asp

to see more information about it.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:28:14 +0000

@Chet - Bentham’s idea was to have ‘venetian’ style blinds over the windows of the observation tower, while more modern versions use one way glass. This photograph from the post shows that bright lights are used not only to aid observation but to disorientate those trying to see the tower.

The brilliant thing is that most of the time nobody is watching you, but because you never know you are much less likely to misbehave.

By: Chet

Chet — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:18:34 +0000

“allowed the guard to observe any of the inmates without them knowing if and when they were being watched”

I don’t understand this, surely the guard standing atop his central platform would be in plain sight to the inmates? Am i missing something or is it simply the idea that if a guard was facing you he might be looking at any neighbouring cell and not you?

By: HighUpInPA

HighUpInPA — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:52:41 +0000

Statesville has a storied history, or so I recall. I was certain a movie was filmed there. After some digging I found that Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” had some scenes there (can’t remember which ones, however). After some further searching, I came across this NY Times article from 2001 that suggests the Illinois state prison in Joliet was going to be closed in favor of a new prison in Statesville.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E0DC1231F935A15751C1A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Doing a further search, I see that the prison is still open and a new expansion is finished by not in operation. I guess Illinois has gotten their crime problems under control.

http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/facilities/information.asp?instchoice=sta

By: Jean-Noël Anderruthy

Jean-Noël Anderruthy — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:14:29 +0000

You have a french’s example : rue de l’abreuvoir, 79000 niort, france
With Bird’s eye and Live Search Maps.

By: moarris

moarris — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:58:30 +0000

First crashes, now prisons?! What’s up with this guy?

I joke! Excellent article and a really unique topic. Great work you maverick rebel!