prison

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prison. Gaol, jail, or place for confining criminals and segregating them from society. Prisons provided scope for rational planning to ensure efficient control over inmates, and many fine designs date from the later decades of C18 and the first half of C19. Piranesi's images of phantasy prisons (carceri), with their Sublime volumes, had considerable influence on Neo-Classical architecture and stage-sets. See Panopticon.

Bibliography

Architectural Review, cxvi/694 (Oct. 1954);
Nicholson (1835);
W. Papworth (1852);
Pevsner (1976);
Sturgis et al. (1901–2)

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