In this brilliant study, one of the most influential philosophers alive sweeps aside centuries of sterile debate about prison reform and gives a highly provocative account of how penal institutions and the power to punish became a part of our lives. Foucault explains the alleged failures of the modern prison by showing how the very concern with rehabilitation encourages and refines criminal activity
Includes bibliographical references (pages 326-333)
I: Torture -- The body of the condemned -- The spectacle of the scaffold -- II: Punishment -- Generalized punishment -- The gentle way in punishment -- III: Discipline -- Docile bodies: The art of distributions -- The control of activity -- The organization of geneses -- the composition of forces -- The means of correct training: Hierarchical observation -- Normalizing judgement -- The examination -- Panopticism -- Complete and austere institutions -- Illegalities and delinquency -- the carceral