LOOKING FOR THE «IDEAL» PRISON (FROM THE IDEA TO ITS IMPLEMENTATION)

Abstract

The article clarifies the content of the concept «ideal» prison in historical discourse and its implementation in practice in the framework of the prison transformations in some countries during XVIII – XX centuries. The influence of I. Bentham's penitentiary ideas on the practice of punishment and imprisonment is analyzed. architecture and transformation of the concept of supervision in the modern world.

The founder of the idea of the «ideal» prison is the English philosopher and lawyer I. Bentham. In his work «Panopticon; or, The Inspection House» (1791) I. Bentham gave the new principle for the construction and arrangement of the buildings and premises, in which people are under supervised. The main idea was to construct the rational prison, where the convicts would be isolated in cells, and then centralized supervision would be carried out. The panopticon concept was the basis of most of the British and European prison projects of XIX – middle of XX centuries.

In modern conditions the panopticon model of prisons has not lost its relevance, but supervision is already provided not by the architectural means, but by the technical ones. In addition, control and supervision are not the main component of the multi-cluster system of serving sentences. The latest prisons, in particular in Denmark and Norway, can be qualified as the «ideal» ones in the XXI century. They take into account modern requirements to the process of serving sentences. The cornerstone is the respect to the rights of the convicted persons and their human dignity, as well as the latest technical means of supervision and control.