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Primary sourceArtifactc. 1791

Reveley Plan of the Panopticon Houses of Inspection

Willey Reveley · c. 1791

A contemporary drawing of Bentham's Panopticon prison design, drawn by Willey Reveley from Bentham's own designs around 1791.

This plan records Bentham's own Panopticon prison design as drawn by an architect during his lifetime.

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Hand-drawn plan of the Panopticon House of Inspection in ink and wash, with a circular building plan in grey and red, labelled with letters A to N and a key of references above and below.
Willey Reveley, after designs by Jeremy Bentham, Elevation plan of the Houses of Inspection (Panopticon), c. 1791.

About this source

What it is

This is a hand-drawn elevation plan of the Panopticon, or 'House of Inspection', made around 1791 by the architect Willey Reveley after designs by Jeremy Bentham. It shows the circular building layout, with letters marking different spaces and a key explaining them.

Why it matters

The Panopticon was Bentham's famous design for a prison in which a single watchman could observe all inmates without being seen. This drawing is a rare visual record made during Bentham's own lifetime, showing how his influential and controversial idea about surveillance and institutional design was actually meant to look.

Look closer

  • What does the circular design suggest about how the building was meant to control or watch the people inside it?
  • Why might Bentham have worked with an architect like Reveley to turn his idea into a technical drawing?
  • What does this plan not tell us about how the Panopticon would have felt to live or work in?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Jeremy Bentham on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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