Modern universal imprisonment was not the reformers’ original design

Evidence

The idea that imprisonment might as it does today cover the whole middle ground of punishment, between death and light penalties, was one that the reformers could not arrive at immediately. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 187

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: when and how did imprisonment displace the punitive city of visible fables, and what made the invisible prison win?
• XREF: connects to: Reformers criticized the economy of power, not its cruelty. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 133; Imprisonment’s rapid acceptance is poorly explained by the prestige of reform models alone — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 195; Reformers shifted punishment’s aim from expiation to prevention — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 204 (+3 more)

Related

• Imprisonment’s rapid acceptance is poorly explained by the prestige of reform models alone (similarity 0.90)
• The rise of the prison institutionalized the power to punish (similarity 0.84)
• The rise of imprisonment was historically novel, not a natural succession. (similarity 0.84)
• Reformers reframed punishment as protection rather than vengeance (similarity 0.84)
• Penal reform sought not less punishment but more universal, deeper social control (similarity 0.84)
• Prison resists reform because it relays a broad network of disciplines and surveillances. (similarity 0.83)
• Reform has always been proposed as the remedy for the prison’s failure (similarity 0.83)
• The prison was originally embraced as a humane replacement for capital and corporal punishment. (similarity 0.83)
• Prison reform is an integral part of the prison’s functioning, not its antidote (similarity 0.83)
• Reformers criticized the economy of power, not its cruelty. (similarity 0.82)
• The penitentiary was framed as a progressive reform of its era. (similarity 0.82)
• Prison integrated correctional transformation into legal detention from the start (similarity 0.81)
• European and American punishment was entirely reorganized in less than a century (similarity 0.81)
• Reformers sought to redistribute punitive power throughout the whole social body. (similarity 0.81)
• The prison’s failure, reform, and discipline form one simultaneous carceral system (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• The rise of imprisonment was historically novel, not a natural succession. #corroborates (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 191
• Imprisonment’s rapid acceptance is poorly explained by the prestige of reform models alone #corroborates (0.82) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 195
• Reformers shifted punishment’s aim from expiation to prevention #expands (0.72) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 204
• Reform rhetoric bolsters prison permanence and cannot meet corporate-era challenges #complicates (0.70) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 266