The reading, "Panopticism" from Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault, is a captivating one because it explores the historical parallels with prisons of today. I found the beginning of the piece to be really interesting because I was not aware of the tremendous impact and severity of the plague and how it controlled life with extreme precision. The fact that Foucault correlated the imprisonment of people during the plague to the inception and running of prisons kept my attention firmly in place because it shows just how brutal prisons really are. Foucault mentions dungeons and their purposes and goes on to explain the mechanics behind Bentham's Panopticon and it was truly startling to know that it not only employed a method used in dungeons but also made it impossible for the prisoner to be hidden or have any sort of interaction. This system makes it possible for prisoners to be watched at all times while being enclosed and unable to escape, it creates a sort of zoo where the prisoner is being watched like an animal, but differs in that they have no means of interaction. In parallel with Orwell's "1984", Foucault's piece speaks of the detrimental aspects of imprisonment both during the plague and in modern prisons. As in "1984", Foucault explains the notion of a prisoner being watched over at all times, being under surveillance by 'big brother' and its effects on prisoners or those being under surveillance at all times. I found this piece to be a bit disturbing because it gave very grave details surrounding the treatment of people during the plague and compared that same treatment to the way that prisoners in a prison system are treated. This piece offered insight to me because I was not aware of just how deprived prisoners really are when they are in solitude, stripped of their rights, and constantly being monitored. I believe Foucault did an excellent job in comparing and providing a historical context to prison systems that have emerged since the time of the plague.
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