Research Paper on:
Contemporary Prisons and Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
way that modern states use punishment as a power system. As Foucaults arguments unfold, it becomes clear that he sees prisons and punishment within an overall framework that encompasses the  whole of society. The multi-faceted picture that Foucaults genealogy of the prison presents also provides a detailed warning concerning the power of "Panoptism" (complete supervision and control by the state)  to threaten the autonomy and individuality of its citizens. Foucault begins his history of the origins of prison, Discipline and Punish, with an intriguing and astute observation. First of  all, he relates the horrendous details of the amende honorable, which was the standard form of execution for anyone who threatened the body politic through the act of regicide. As  punishment for the ultimate impertinence to the welfare of the state, attempting to murder a monarch, the condemned was sentenced to have: 1) the flesh torn from his breasts, arms,  thighs and calves with red-hot pincers; 2) the right hand (which presumably committed the offense) was to be burnt with sulfur; 3) the wounds were the flesh was torn away  would then have molten lead poured over them; and, finally, 4) the body was to be quartered and burned (Foucault 3). A man, Damiens, was executed in this manner  on March 2, 1757. The records of this execution appear to be quite detailed, as Foucault relates the event in all-too-graphic detail (the man was still alive after having had  his arms and legs ripped off). At this point, Foucault juxtaposes this torture with a timetable for prison inmates that was composed just eighty years later. As this timetable indicates,  the whole approach to punishment had changed in less than a century. Torture as a public spectacle soon vanished completely (Foucault 7). At this point, a new process began that