It seems obvious to me (*) why a panopticon prison (at least, the type with no doors on the cells) doesn’t work - there’s no easy way to exert control. As soon

It seems obvious to me (*) why a panopticon prison (at least, the type with no doors on the cells) doesn’t work - there’s no easy way to exert control. As soon as prisoners start misbehaving, you need more guards, far more so than a ‘normal’ prison would require. Without a lot of stairs and ladders, the guards can’t move to problem areas easily, and stairs/ladders are problem points even in conventional prisons. Furthermore, the game theory-like idea that the prisoners will work within the system is ruined by the fact that the guard can’t possibly catalogue multiple incidents occurring simultaneously. It seems very naive. Anyone that has tried to keep a classroom of young school children quiet/on task would know this I think. (Whenever something is ‘obvious’ to me, I take it as a sign that I’m not understanding it fully).