NCJ Number
134705
Journal
International Journal of the Sociology of Law Volume: 19 Dated: (1991) Pages: 273-291
Date Published
1991
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the impact of recent prison legislation in Italy that seems to be constructing "immaterial" prisons in which the material and physical aspects of imprisonment as external coercion are being overtaken by invisible means of self-coercion. Torture by means of space, which characterizes the traditional prison, is being replaced by torture through time and by the torture of blocked communication.
Abstract
The authors present the principles of Bentham's Panopticon, in which the panoptical device arranges spacial units to allow unhindered viewing and immediate recognition, and the internal controlling devices of Piranesi's Imaginary Prisons. The prison system in Italy is a dual one, incorporating high-surveillance, inaccessible institutions as well as institutions where discipline and surveillance are rarely used. Both types of prisons are factories for the manufacture of psycho-physical handicaps, inherently caused by environmental and communicative isolation. Prisons survive because of the demand for retribution; even notions of rehabilitation and restitution make the abolition of penal institutions unacceptable. 34 references