Panopticon–The Ultimate Penitentiary

In 1789, the British thinker Jeremy Bentham publishes An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. This book furthers Beccaria's ideas and suggests even more criminal-law reforms. Bentham, who also has an interest in architecture, includes designs for a "Panopticon" — which in Greek means, essentially, "a place where everything is seen." The Panopticon was intended as the ultimate penitentiary, free of the horrors that plagued earlier detention facilities. A circular building supported by a central column that is surrounded by prison cells, the structure allows guards an unobstructed view of inmates. Safely confined in individual cells, the prisoners are more likely to behave, because they believe they're always being watched — whether or not that's actually the case. Political infighting and power struggles keep Bentham's design from being built. But the idea persists, and several are constructed over the centuries. Stateville, in Illinois, is a panopticon-style building that still houses inmates.