The Panopticon and the Punishment of Being Watched

The panopticon - a place where all contained can be watched at any time, unaware of the status of their observers. First proposed by social theorist Jeremy Bentham, the idea of the panopticon was that the constant potential for being observed would lead to behavior which would fall in line with the moral requirements of society. Although this concept applied to many different building types proposed by Bentham, the one that we are most familiar with today is the panopticon style prison.

The concept is as simple as it is effective; if you are always under surveillance, or not able to tell when you are or aren't, you can only act as though you are being watched. Proponents believe that this will lead to causing people to behavior, and can eventually lead to moral reform as societal pressure causes people to adapt. But at what cost? What level of paranoia and emotional anguish would result from such a situation? There's a reason the Panopticon has been proposed not only as a model for social reform, but for emotional torture.

There are few true Panopticon style prisons we can look to in history - the most famous example is likely the Presidio Modelo, where Fidel Castro and his brother Raoul were held. Of course, institutional power with even the best intentions can be abused by a lack of oversight.

Today, the concept of the Panopticon is relevant once again; as electronic and digital tools lead to the ever-increasing capability of constant surveillance - not too dissimilar to the dystopian societies conjured by writers such as Orwell.