Abstract
This study engages in the person of a British scholar, a jurist, a social reformer, a founder of utilitarianism and a philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), particularly in his relation to punishment and his project called Panopticon. The design of this private experimental prison which Bentham made around the year 1787 and went on developing for a few more years, included a circular construction with "an inspectional house" in the middle, from which the guards could oversee prisoners.
Prisoners who were deployed in cells around the whole perimeter, weren't able to see into the inspectional house. Windows of the guarding tower were equipped with blinds so the prisoners could have been under permanent surveillance but guards themselves weren't seen.
The principle itself was that the guards were supposed to have the possibility to watch prisoners under all circumstances including the time when they were in their cells. Prisoners would never be able to see the prison guards so they could never be sure whether they are, or they are not being under surveillance at the moment.
This project had never been realized during Jeremy Bentham's life, however it became an inspirational source for buildings of other penitentiaries in modern times, he inspired a philosopher of the 20th century Michael Foucalt and he represented a huge improvement in prisons for the convicted people and even for the prison service in his time and in the end he anticipated a trend towards private governance of correctional facilities.