Panopticon
Panopticon the name given by Jeremy Bentham in 1790 to his proposal for an institutional building, especially a prison, of circular shape with the area occupied by the inmates disposed round and fully open to view from a central vantage point. A scheme for a penitentiary on these lines was accepted by Parliament in 1794, and a site at Millbank, London, was chosen, but, in the event, the new penitentiary (which opened in 1816) was not built to Bentham's plan. Among later prisons constructed on the panopticon principle, the Stateville Penitentiary at Joliet, Illinois, is still in use.
The word comes from Greek pan ‘all’ + optikon, neuter of optikos ‘optic’, and is recorded from the mid 18th century as a word for a kind of telescope.
The word comes from Greek pan ‘all’ + optikon, neuter of optikos ‘optic’, and is recorded from the mid 18th century as a word for a kind of telescope.
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Panopticon
