Bentham and Tocqueville on Pauperism

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-151
Author(s):  
Anne Brunon-Ernst
Keyword(s):  
Prison System ◽  
Alexis De Tocqueville ◽  
Jeremy Bentham ◽  
The South ◽  
French Writer ◽  
American Prison

Alexis de Tocqueville and Jeremy Bentham belong to two different generations. When Tocqueville made his firt trip to the South of England in 1833 and, the following year, when the publication of De la Démocratie en Amérique launched his career as a successful political writer, Bentham had died a couple of years before. Bentham had certainly never heard about a young hopeful French writer called Tocqueville. At least there is no mention of his name in Bentham’s Works and Correspondence and why should there be? However Bentham’s theories were not unknown to Tocqueville, more particularly those related to prisons. Tocqueville became acquainted with Bentham’s Panopticon when he and Gustave de Beaumont were commissioned by the French Interior Ministry to write a report on the American prison system which was subsequently published under Du système pénitentianire aux États-Unis in 1831.

Prison Versus Western Australia: Which Worked Best, the Australian Penal Colony or the English Convict Prison System?

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 1139-1160
Author(s):  
Barry Godfrey
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Prison System ◽  
Jeremy Bentham ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Penal Colony ◽  
South Wales

Abstract Between 1850 and 1868, a natural experiment in punishment took place. Men convicted of similar crimes could serve their sentence of penal servitude either in Britain or in Australia. For historians and social scientists, this offers the prospect of addressing a key question posed over 200 years ago by the philosopher, penal theorist and reformer Jeremy Bentham when he authored a lengthy letter entitled ‘Panopticon versus New South Wales: Or, the Panopticon Penitentiary System, and the Penal Colonization System, Compared’. This article answers the underlying tenet of Bentham’s question, ‘Which was best prison or transportation?’ by applying two efficiency tests. The first tests whether UK convicts or Australian convicts had higher rates of reconviction, and the second explores the speed to reconviction.

scholarly journals “Ubuntu” I am because we are: COVID-19 and the legal framework for addressing communicable disease in the South African prison system

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Claire Van Hout ◽  
Jakkie Wessels
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
South African ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Prison System ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
System Response ◽  
The South ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The purpose of the paper was to conduct a legal-realist assessment of the South African prison system response to COVID-19. Severely congested and ill-resourced prison systems in Africa face unprecedented challenges amplified by COVID-19. South Africa has recorded the highest COVID-19 positivity rate in Africa and, on March 15th 2020, declared a national state of disaster. The first prison system case was notified on April 6th 2020. Design/methodology/approach A legal-realist assessment of the South African prison system response to COVID-19 in the 12 months following initial case notification focused on the minimum State obligations to comply with human rights norms, and the extent to which human, health and occupational health rights of prisoners and staff were upheld during disaster measures. Findings A legal-realist account was developed, which revealed the indeterminate nature of application of South African COVID-19 government directives, ill-resourced COVID-19 mitigation measures, alarming occupational health and prison conditions and inadequate standards of health care in prisons when evaluated against the rule of law during State declaration of disaster. Originality/value This legal-realist assessment is original by virtue of its unique evaluation of the South African prison system approach to tackling COVID-19. It acknowledged State efforts, policymaking processes and outcomes and how these operated within the prison system itself. By moving beyond the deleterious impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the already precarious South African prison system, the authors argue for rights assurance for those who live and work in its prisons, improved infrastructure and greater substantive equality of all deprived of their liberty in South Africa.

SHOULD PRISONERS HAVE A RIGHT TO VOTE?

2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-102
Author(s):  
NTUSI MBODLA
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
South African ◽  
Voting Rights ◽  
Prison System ◽  
The South ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Right To Vote

This article raises a number of issues, such as voting rights in general and the extent that government should go to ensure that all are able to exercise this right in a democracy. Also raised is the issue of prisoners' rights. Finally, the peculiarities of the South African prison system are at issue here too. The article will examine prisoners' voting rights in general elections. Provincial and local government elections are somewhat different and will not be discussed.

The American Prison System. Fred E. Haynes

1939 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-300
Author(s):  
S. P. Breckinridge
Keyword(s):  
Prison System ◽  
American Prison
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