Foucault construes the new regimes of control as forms of punishment, showing that the reformers suggested a public theater of punishment with a complicated system of signs and images. Punishments tied to the individuals’ offenses have prevented them from breaking the law as intended. According to Foucault, discipline can regulate how the body behaves using various methods. In the new “humane” penal system, coercion was used to enforce discipline as well as control how each person moved and experienced space and time. This is accomplished by utilizing tools like knot tables and military exercises. Examination, normalizing judgment, and hierarchical observation are the three components of the new penalty system. Moreover, the gaze and observation are essential tools of power. Foucault notes that the concept of punishment emerged from discipline. It seeks to take away someone’s freedom and reform them.
Foucault said that the surveillance state and its power structures permeated institutions outside prison. For instance, a driver who is unsure whether or not a speed camera is monitoring his or her every move. This illustrates self-regulation when the motorist decides to slow down in case they are being observed. This states that the consciousness of the possibilities of control conditions conduct. According to Foucault, the person is fundamentally a byproduct of this surveillance and control. He contends that the development of a new type of discipline is what led to the subsequent turn toward prison. Foucault characterized docile bodies as those that may be observed and psychologically controlled before being taught to self-govern due to systematic monitoring by governmental institutions. Simply put, according to Foucault, humans are the aggregate of the things they refrain from doing out of concern for criticism, public scrutiny, or, most importantly, punishment.