The Evolution of modes of control

Larry Boothe
Blog Post #8
Michael Foucault; Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison
Chapter 4: Part 2 (Illegality and Delinquency)

In Part 2 of Chapter 4, Foucault points out the similarities in the evolution of techniques used to alter individual behavior. In this context he describes the transition from the public spectacle of chain-gangs to the penal detention used in the mobile, Panopticon-like police carriage. Chain gangs were public spectacles where criminals were paraded throughout a city, and it combined the two modes of punishment Foucault has already described: detention and torture. He explains this when he states that “the way to detention unfolded as a ceremonial of torture.” However, this did not have the intended effects on the prisoners nor the populace. Some prisoners developed a collective identity of determination, and formed a companionship that reversed the intended moral code. The chain gangs seemed to give convicts a symbolic outlet; although they were defeated by the law, they were united together and expressed the idea that liberty would one day return to them. Obviously, this required the populace to choose between the ruthlessness of the executioners and misfortune of the convicts or the guilt of these convicts who proclaimed a promising message. It is easy to imagine why the powers that be chose to eliminate chain gangs in favor of more secretive administrative methods such as the police carriage. This affected the prisoners internally because they could not communicate, leaving introspection the only possible activity. When one is only left with their own thoughts they will reflect more on their wrong doing, become less inclined to disobey in the future, and become more susceptible to control. This new method of control also affected the prisoners externally because the public is now given only the gloomy sight of the convicts being detained and hauled away. This was a major difference from the sight of the defiant and joyous criminals in the chain gangs. Overall, this transition from torture, to chain gangs, to the police-carriage shows that modes of punishment were a technical mutation centering on control. This control is not only intended to affect the mindset of the prisoner but of the public as well. Foucault describes how the human race has realized over time that administrative secrecy and the formation of prisons were, and still are the best way to achieve both of these goals.