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  January 2010 Edition

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Imprisonment in the Era of Enlightment and Today

By: Sharon White

During the era of Enlightenment which began in the 1600’s, society embraced a new belief system in rationality a science.

This period is known as the era of 'Enlightenment'. Social, religious and legal areas of society were hugely impacted by this new way of thinking. Before this scientific advancement, Foucault was of the view that law and punishment was largely concerned with severe physical torture and public displays of death.

Cesar Beccaria published 'On Crimes and Punishment', portrayed itself as a modern development that moved beyond the classical view of punishment. He encouraged the theory of 'Rational Thought' and incarceration as punishment for crimes committed that broke the 'Social Contract' that every citizen enters into when belonging to a society.

He condemned the use of the death penalty as a form of crime prevention and that punishment should be predictable, rational and proportionate to the offence.

The enlightenment principles were gradually enforced by the liberal 'Whigs' who were of the view that society needed to understand the reason for deviation in order to reform a criminal.

These Liberal approaches to crime and punishment were presented by Jeremy Bentham, who formulated the principles of Utilitarianism, which is defined by any view that holds that action, rules and institutions should be evaluated on the basis of the benefits and costs that they impose on society.

Criminals of the 17th and 18th century were punished by way of either transportation enforced by the Transportation Act of 1717 to America or incarceration in locally run gaols also termed as 'houses of correction', ran by gaolers whose wages were paid by the prisoners themselves for board.

Conditions were dire and the lack of local authority supervision, gave way to widespread corruption.

The lack of a fully functional prison system resulted in the use of transportation of criminals as a method of relieving the problem of overcrowding in local gaols. This practice was halted as a result of the American war of independence during 1776.

The only other means of housing vast amounts of prisoners was in Hulk ships, mourned on the banks of the river Thames. A more permanent form of institution was required.

In 1779; the Penitentiary Act introduced the punishment of hard labor within the Hulk ships such as the crank and tread wheel.

There are 11 privately managed prisons within the UK today.

There are three main arguments for private operation of prisons. Firstly, the private sector will deliver cheaper and better prisons. This is because it is subject to the rigours of competition, it is free from bureaucracy, and it is more innovative.

Secondly, private prisons will set new benchmarks for the public sector and act as a catalyst for reform of the entire prison system.

Thirdly, privatization will strengthen accountability through competition, establishment of objective performance standards and also because the state should be able to monitor a private operator better than it can monitor itself.

Although critiques such asking et al, argue that imprisonment is an essential state function that should not be delegated and, separately, that it is morally wrong to allow profits to be made from the infliction of punishment.

They also contend that privatization will weaken accountability.

Furthermore, they argue that the profit motive will conflict with prisoner welfare as private operators have an incentive to cut costs at the expense of standards and an incentive to make decisions that increase the length of an inmate's stay. Critics also fear that private corporations will form a powerful lobby for high-imprisonment policies.

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