Convict surveillance and reform in theory and practice

Jeremy Bentham is famous as a pioneer of modern surveillance, most notably for his panopticon, a circular prison with a central tower that ensured inmates were always watched. This chapter uses Bentham’s critique to historicise his theory of reformative surveillance, contrasting it with contemporary surveillance practices in early New South Wales (NSW). It argues that Bentham misunderstood the significance of surveillance in the penal colony and failed to appreciate the difference between surveillance in theory and practice. In 1802, Bentham addressed a series of public letters to the Home Secretary, Lord Pelham, which sought to demonstrate that transportation was a flawed means of punishing convicts and that NSW was illegally governed.