How Did Humans Invent Prisons? | The Strange History of Punishment

Prisons feel ancient. But using prison itself as the punishment is surprisingly recent. For most of human history, people were not sentenced to spend years locked inside a cell. Prisons were mainly places where accused people waited before trial, execution, exile, fines, forced labor, or another punishment. So when did humans start punishing people by taking away their freedom? In this episode of Explain With Isaac, we trace the history of prisons from the ancient world to the birth of the modern penitentiary. We explore the Code of Hammurabi, ancient Roman imprisonment, medieval dungeons, Bridewell in London, Britain’s prison hulks, John Howard’s prison reforms, the Walnut Street Jail, Eastern State Penitentiary, solitary confinement, Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon, and the ideas that shaped the modern prison system. The strange part is that many early reformers believed prison would be more humane than the punishments it replaced. Instead of whipping, mutilating, exiling, or executing someone, the new idea was simple: Take away their freedom. Give them silence. Give them time. And hope they change. But did it actually work? And how did a punishment that was once unusual become one of the most common forms of punishment in the modern world? SOURCES / FURTHER READING • Code of Hammurabi, c. 1754 BC • Ulpian, preserved in the Digest of Justinian • Bridewell, London, 1553 • John Howard — The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, 1777 • Walnut Street Jail, Philadelphia • Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia • Jeremy Bentham — Panopticon writings • Charles Dickens — American Notes • Michel Foucault — Discipline and Punish If you want the sources for a specific section, leave the timestamp in the comments. Subscribe to Explain With Isaac for documentaries about the strange history behind ordinary parts of modern life. #History #PrisonHistory #HistoryDocumentary