"CRIME AND PUNISHMENT"
By Elizabeth H. Elys:
I begin my article about Crime and Punishment by the Russian novelist Feodor
Dostoyevsky. It is a philosophical novel which was published during 1866 and
separate edition 1867. This novel focuses on the mental anguish and moral
dilemmas of Raskolnikov, ex-student in St. Petersburg, who formulates and
executes a plan to kill a pawnbroker for her cash. Several times throughout the
novel, Raskolnikov compares himself with Napoleon Bonaparte and shares his
belief that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.
Dostoyevsky himself was exiled in Siberia 10 years.
Since the birth of modern legal system, tales of many prisons brought the chill down spines of people around the world.
PRISONS have been use to incarcerate a variety of people
from hardened criminals to those who opposed the current political regime. A
few of these prisons have become infamous due to their illustrious inmates,
their barbaric treatment of prisoners and sometimes because of the daring
escape attempts.
Mary Queen of Scots,
Luis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, Nicholas II, Al Capone, Nelson
Mandela, and more…
The use of prisons can be traced back to the rise of the
STATE as a form of social organization. Some Ancient Greek philosophers, such
as PLATO, began to develop ideas of using punishment to reform offenders. Imprisonment
as a penalty was use for those who could not afford to pay their fines.
The prison Ancient Athens was known as the Desmoterion (Place of chains.)
The Romans were among the first use prisons as a form of
punishment, rather than simply for detention. A variety of existing structures
were used to house prisoners, such as metal cages, basement of public building
and quarries.
One of the most notable Roman prisons was the Mamertine Prison,
established around 640 B.C. by Ancus Marcius. This prison was located within a
sewer system beneath ancient Rome and contained a lot of dungeons. Forced labor
on public works projects was a common form of punishment. In many cases,
citizens were sentenced to slavery, often in Ergastula (a primitive form of
prison, where the slaves were chained to workbenches)
During the Middle Ages in Europe castles, fortresses and
basements of public buildings were use as prisons. The ability to have someone imprisoned
or killed served as a signifier of who in society possessed power or authority
over other (kings courts, city councils), the common punishment was to
sentencing people to Galley Slavery. Punishment consisted of physical form,
including capital punishment, mutilation and flagellation (whipping).
From the Middle Ages up 17th century in Europe imprisonment
was used as a punishment in its own right, and prisons were mainly to hold
those awaiting trials and convicts awaiting punishment.
Important innovation at the time was Bridewel House of
Corrections located in London. This house held petty offenders, vagrants and
the local poor. By the end of 17th century houses of corrections
were absorbed into local prison system under the control of the local justice.
The prison reform movement that arose during the 18th
century was influenced by two philosophies. Enlightenment ideas of Utilitarianism and Rationalism
suggested that prisons should simply be used as a more effective substitute for
public corporal punishment such as whipping, hanging etc. This theory referred to
as deterrence, claims the purpose of prisons is to be so harsh and terrifying.
The second theory, which saw prisons as a form of Rehabilitation
or Moral Reform, was based on religious ideas, to instruct prisoners in Christian
morality, obedience and proper behavior.
Between the 1610 – 1770 s convicted criminals were sent from
British Empire, France and other European countries to tropical penal colonies.
Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) was a German philosopher, he
believed that the criminal deserved to be punished, but that to punish for
other purposes, such as deterrence, was to violate the “categorical imperative,
specifically, that one should not use others for one’s own end.
According to some prison it is most severe form attacks “the
soul it acts on the heart, the thought, the will, and the inclinations of the
prisoner.
Prison critics allege that the most detrimental effect is
not physical deterioration, but mental and moral deterioration.
Next: Historical Prisons – Modern Prisons – Political Prisoners
– Prisoners of War…
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