Editing Jeremy Bentham (section)

=== Abortive prison project and the Panopticon ===
In 1786 and 1787, Bentham travelled to [[Krychaw|Krichev]] in White Russia (modern [[Belarus]]) to visit his brother, [[Samuel Bentham|Samuel]], who was engaged in managing various industrial and other projects for [[Grigory Potemkin|Prince Potemkin]]. It was Samuel (as Jeremy later repeatedly acknowledged) who conceived the basic idea of a circular building at the hub of a larger compound as a means of allowing a small number of managers to oversee the activities of a large and unskilled workforce.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=99–100}}<ref>{{citation |title= Prisons and prison systems: a global encyclopedia| first = Mitchel P | last = Roth |year= 2006 |publisher=Greenwood |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RTH31DgbTzgC&pg=PA33|page= 33| isbn = 978-0313328565 }}</ref>

Bentham began to develop this model, particularly as applicable to prisons, and outlined his ideas in a series of letters sent home to his father in England.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=99–101}} He supplemented the supervisory principle with the idea of ''contract management''; that is, an administration by contract as opposed to trust, where the director would have a [[pecuniary]] interest in lowering the average rate of mortality.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=134–140}}

The [[Panopticon]] was intended to be cheaper than the prisons of his time, as it required fewer staff; "Allow me to construct a prison on this model", Bentham requested to a Committee for the Reform of Criminal Law, "I will be the [[gaoler]]. You will see ... that the [[gaoler]] will have no salary—will cost nothing to the nation." As the watchmen cannot be seen, they need not be on duty at all times, effectively leaving the watching to the watched. According to Bentham's design, the prisoners would also be used as menial labour, walking on wheels to spin [[loom]]s or run a [[water wheel]]. This would decrease the cost of the prison and give a possible source of income.<ref>Bentham, Jeremy. [1797] 1995. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=V478RAAACAAJ&pg=PA29 The Panopticon Letters]". pp. 29–95 in ''The Panopticon Writings'', edited by [[Miran Božovič|M. Božovič]]. London: [[Verso Books]].</ref>

The ultimately abortive proposal for a panopticon prison to be built in England was one among his many proposals for legal and social reform.{{sfn|Bentham|1787|p=}} But Bentham spent some sixteen years of his life developing and refining his ideas for the building and hoped that the government would adopt the plan for a National Penitentiary appointing him as contractor-governor. Although the prison was never built, the concept had an important influence on later generations of thinkers. Twentieth-century French philosopher [[Michel Foucault]] argued that the panopticon was [[Paradigmatic analysis|paradigmatic]] of several 19th-century "[[Discipline|disciplinary]]" institutions.{{sfn|Foucault|1977|pp=200, 249–256}} Bentham remained bitter throughout his later life about the rejection of the panopticon scheme, convinced that it had been thwarted by the King and an aristocratic elite. Philip Schofield argues that it was largely because of his sense of injustice and frustration that he developed his ideas of "sinister interest"—that is, of the vested interests of the powerful conspiring against a wider public interest—which underpinned many of his broader arguments for reform.<ref>{{cite book |first=Philip |last=Schofield |title=Bentham: a guide for the perplexed |year=2009 |place=London |publisher= Continuum |isbn=978-0826495891 |pages= 90–93}}</ref>

[[File:Panopticon.jpg|thumb|[[Multiview orthographic projection#Elevation|Elevation]], [[Multiview orthographic projection#Section|section]] and [[Multiview orthographic projection#Plan|plan]] of Bentham's panopticon prison, drawn by [[Willey Reveley]] in 1791]]

On his return to England from Russia, Bentham had commissioned drawings from an architect, [[Willey Reveley]].{{Sfn|Semple|1993|p=118}} In 1791, he published the material he had written as a book, although he continued to refine his proposals for many years to come. He had by now decided that he wanted to see the prison built: when finished, it would be managed by himself as contractor-governor, with the assistance of Samuel. After unsuccessful attempts to interest the authorities in Ireland and revolutionary France,{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=102–104, 107–108}} he started trying to persuade the prime minister, [[William Pitt the Younger|William Pitt]], to revive an earlier abandoned scheme for a National Penitentiary in England, this time to be built as a panopticon. He was eventually successful in winning over Pitt and his advisors, and in 1794 was paid £2,000 for preliminary work on the project.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=108–110, 262}}

The intended site was one that had been authorised, under the [[Appropriation Act 1799]] ([[39 Geo. 3]]. c. 114) for the earlier penitentiary, at [[Battersea]] Rise; but the new proposals ran into technical legal problems and objections from the local landowner, [[George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer|Earl Spencer]].{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=169–189}} Other sites were considered, including one at Hanging Wood, near [[Woolwich]], but all proved unsatisfactory.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=194–197}} Eventually Bentham turned to a site at Tothill Fields, near [[Westminster]]. Although this was common land, with no landowner, there were a number of parties with interests in it, including [[Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor|Earl Grosvenor]], who owned a house on an adjacent site and objected to the idea of a prison overlooking it. Again, therefore, the scheme ground to a halt{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=197–217}} At this point, however, it became clear that a nearby site at [[Millbank]], adjoining the [[River Thames|Thames]], was available for sale, and this time things ran more smoothly. Using government money, Bentham bought the land on behalf of the Crown for £12,000 in November 1799.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=217–222}}

From his point of view, the site was far from ideal, being marshy, unhealthy, and too small. When he asked the government for more land and more money, however, the response was that he should build only a small-scale experimental prison—which he interpreted as meaning that there was little real commitment to the concept of the panopticon as a cornerstone of penal reform.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=226–231}} Negotiations continued, but in 1801 Pitt resigned from office, and in 1803 the new [[Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth|Addington]] administration decided not to proceed with the project.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=236–239}} Bentham was devastated: "They have murdered my best days."{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |p=244}}

Nevertheless, a few years later the government revived the idea of a National Penitentiary, and in 1811 and 1812 returned specifically to the idea of a panopticon.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=265–279}} Bentham, now aged 63, was still willing to be governor. However, as it became clear that there was still no real commitment to the proposal, he abandoned hope, and instead turned his attentions to extracting financial compensation for his years of fruitless effort. His initial claim was for the enormous sum of nearly £700,000, but he eventually settled for the more modest (but still considerable) sum of £23,000.{{Sfn |Semple |1993 |pp=279–281}} The Penitentiary House, etc. Act 1812 ([[52 Geo. 3]]. c. 44) transferred his title in the site to the Crown.

More successful was his cooperation with [[Patrick Colquhoun]] in tackling the corruption in the [[Pool of London]]. This resulted in the [[Depredations on the Thames Act 1800]] ([[39 & 40 Geo. 3]]. c. 87).<ref name="French" /> The Act created the [[Thames River Police]], which was the first preventive police force in the country and was a precedent for [[Robert Peel]]'s reforms 30 years later.<ref name=":0">Everett, Charles Warren. 1969. ''Jeremy Bentham''. London: [[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]]. {{ISBN|0297179845}}. {{OCLC|157781}}.</ref>{{Rp|67–69}}