French prison policy oscillated between common work and absolute isolation

Evidence

The discussion that began in France about 1830 was still continuing in 1850; Charles Lucas, the advocate of Auburn, was the inspiration behind the order of 1839 on the running of the maisons centrales (work in common and absolute silence). The wave of revolt that followed and perhaps the general agitation in the country in the years 1842–3 resulted in the adoption in 1844 of the Pennsylvanian régime of absolute isolation, advocated by Demetz, Blouet and Tocqueville. But the second penitentiary congress in 1847 opted against this method. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 536

Categorization

• XREF: The Auburn vs Philadelphia systems correspond to the outsider-vs-insider logic Foucault elsewhere develops; relevant to panoptic architecture debates. — connects to: Isolation plus supervised assembly was meant to train prisoners into social individuals — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 365