Panopticon, the Concept and the Implementation

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"Morals reformed - health preserved - industry invigorated, instruction diffused - public burthens lightened - Economy seated, as it were, upon a rock - the gordian knot of the Poor-Laws are not cut, but untied - all by a simple idea in Architecture!"

Jeremy Bentham
The Panopticon Writings

Sounds intriguing? Back in the day when people actually used their brain to come up with new ideas, instead of watching TV or scrolling feeds there was a guy named Jeremy Bentham who proposed a brand new concept in institution (mostly prisons) design - the Panopticon.

The main idea is to always have all the inmates under supervision. Real or perceived, as the supervisor could see everyone at any given moment, but not the other way around. While it's impossible for the supervisor to observe everyone at once, the inmates could not see him nor could they know for sure whether they are being watched right now or not. Thus they would effectively watch themselves, being under psychological pressure all the time.

^{The scheme of a panopticon prison, Image source}

The ethical side of the idea is a subject to debate, but it's efficiency can hardly be denied. Somehow it was never properly implemented, some prisons were built with similar features, but a true Panopticon was never built. And today I will present you one panopticon-inspired prison in Ibagué, Colombia, where I went yesterday.

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This old abandoned prison has a shape of a cross, not a circle. Instead of a watchtower in the center there is catwalks above the cells where guards could walk and observe the poor sods below. Doesn't seem very secure to me, but what do I know...

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^{Nobody but Jesus inside}

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The building itself is locked, so I just climbed the wall and took some photos of the inside of the cells through the grates.

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^{Stay outside, don't let the pigs get you}

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The old panopticon of Ibagué was built as a prison at the end of the 19th century and operated as such until 2003. In 1998 it was declared a cultural interest of a national nature. Ibagué was declared in 2004 as the Andean Capital of Human Rights and Peace by the Andean Parliament. In this way, the Panopticon will become the epicenter of this new conception of the city.

Source

More photos from outside:

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What do you think about Panopticon? Is it ethical? Is it better than modern prisons? Let's have a discussion in the comments!

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