Scope of the Panopticon Model in Chilean Medical and Prison Architecture.

The historic origin and the characteristics of the Panopticon, as an architectural resource originating from the European world, is analyzed for prison and hospital constructions, as well as its application in Chile, especially during the early 19th Century. The influence of this model in Chilean penitentiary and medical areas is emphasized in the supposed merits of greater surveillance and control of the inmates, with the idea of their eventual moral regeneration; and in the eventual characteristics of the Panopticon Model tending towards greater hygiene and salubriousness in medical establishments, supposedly facilitated by the architectural paradigm of this model.