The prison through the moral point of view : How the moral point of view affected Karlstad County prison

The purpose of this essay is to study how the prison routines came about to form Karlstad County Prison during the 19th century. This will be conducted through Foucault’s theory about power and moral, more specifically the disciplinary power. How the way of thinking, that imprinted the society during this time and how that was the foundation for the architecture, religions part in prison and the disciplinary punishments that were given to the prisoners. The focus of the study was preserved letters, a journal of extra judicial punishment and a report from one priest. The essay aimed to investigate the question of how the prison routines were marked by the notion of power and majority as well as to investigate how the prisoners experience their time inside the prison. The study found that, as the previous researchers within the field of investigation, that Karlstad County Prison was as well marked by the notion of power and morality exactly as the remaining prison activities and prisons established in the 19th century. Which were based on morality and the principles of discipline, in both the design of the prison and the correction of the prisoner through measurements such as introducing pastoral care as a means of correcting the individual’s inner moral. As the principle of morality also reflects the contemporary society that was characterized by what was wrong and what was right, which included one’s individual behavior.The results also shows that this was also noticed by the prisoners themselves, where they were aware of the rules they broke when they wrote for instance the letters. But at the same time also showed inner reflection of what was right and wrong and the reason for their stay within the prison walls. This was what the system was created for from the beginning, the idea behind the discipline working through the soul.