Through the concept of discipline, it became possible, to organize and control large numbers of criminals in a system. Discipline, as this concept was called, also influenced the idea of punishment and justice. The idea of organizing mass numbers of people toward a specific goal became part of the Western way of life. 47) This later evolved into a period where individual communities assumed the responsibility for dispensing justice and the idea that public punishment was an effective form of justice became part of Western thought.ĭuring the 17th and 18th centuries, great social changes made their way into Western culture. As Foucault stated, "The public execution is to be understood not only as judicial, but also as a political ritual." (Foucault, 1995, p. Torture and execution were the most common forms of punishment at this time, but because they were dispensed unevenly and in an ineffective manor, executions became more of a form of political statement than a state sponsored form of social punishment.
As crime became seen as an offense against the ruler, it was the ruler who assumed to undertake the dispensing of punishment. Foucault asserted that during the Middle Ages, when Monarchies were the major form of government, the ruler was responsible for the dispensing of justice. This essay will discuss the evolution of the prison system, the creation of societies with prisons, both male and female, as well as discuss the effects of prison society on the prison guards and staff.įrench philosopher Michael Foucault, in his book Discipline and Punishment, extensively detailed the evolution of punishment in Western culture. These researchers have begun to understand the changes in an inmate's psychology as they transform from a traditional member of human society to a member of a prison society. In order to understand the society which is created when a group of criminals are confined together, researchers have studied the social dynamics of prison life. The rules, responsibilities, obligations, and relationships are all very different to the outside world. It is known that within prisons, the inmates go through a process by which they are transformed from members of society in general, to members of a prison society. Prisons are a relative new invention, being created in the modern world, and therefore the social effects on inmates are not well-known. Prison is a place where, for the protection of society, those found guilty of crimes are sent to be incarcerated.
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