Why are science fiction prisons so easy to escape?
A deep dive into Andor, Jeremy Bentham and the technological panopticon of today
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to find myself inside, say, the prison from Guardians of the Galaxy but I do think that a lifetime of watching science fiction movies has uniquely prepared me to make my great escape. It's not, strictly speaking, easy to escape a science fiction prison, it's often really hard (see Andor) but, the point I'm making is, if you know what to look out for then you can find a way out.
Most prisons depicted within science fiction adhere to similar rules. Sure, the prison on Narkina-5 from Andor and the Kiln in the aforementioned Guardians of the Galaxy look very different but they're based on the same core principle when it comes to keeping their inmates in line. Constant surveillance.
Many prisons in science fiction draw English philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s1 Panopticon prison concept. The Panopticon posits that through the creation of a "central observation tower placed within a circle of prison cells"2, guards are able to see inmates but inmates cannot see the guards. As noted by The Ethics Centre, "it was a manifestation of his belief that power should be visible and unverifiable."
The key here is that, as The Ethics Centre article continues, "a guard can see every cell and inmate but the inmates can't see into the tower" thus creating the illusion of persistent surveillance. As the prisoners cannot see the guards, they have no idea if they are actually being watched or not. They then act as though they are constantly being watched even if they aren't.
Think about how you might work a bit harder if your big boss is in the office with you that day. If they were always in the room they wouldn't need to be watching you all the time for their presence to be felt. Knowing they were there is enough to keep you in line, to keep productivity up. As The Ethics Centre puts it, "this is the power of constant surveillance - and the power of the panopticon."
Andor is a great example of how this idea is put into action. In the series, the prison is controlled by a skeleton crew of guards who use the threat of electrocution via an electrified floor as a means of ensuring uniformity amongst the inmates. They instil a belief that they are always watching and always listening to the inmates ready to push the electrocute button should they step out of line.
The problem in Andor is that we know nobody is actually listening. But more on that in a moment. It was Bentham's belief that "through this seemingly constant surveillance," all of society could be altered. Provided everyone was subject to the threat of constant observation, "morals would be reformed, health preserved, industry invigorated, and so on."
Bentham, rebutting noted panopticon critic Michel Foucault, said that discipline “becomes a self-propagating" concept that would create "a new mode of obtaining mind over mind." Essentially, Bentham argued that in building a system where there was the threat of constant surveillance within the panopticon, people would eventually behave as though they were being watched at all times even when they weren't.
In Andor, seasoned prisoner Kino Loy, prior to Cassian's arrival at the prison, is a fantastic example of what Bentham is arguing here. Loy and the other prisoners are essentially allowed to govern themselves3 as the fear created by the threat of constant surveillance maintains order within the prison.
Sounds pretty miserable right? A prison where you're under constant watch, unable to do anything without a guard seeing you and you getting a swift electrocution. We see through the Narkina-5 arc on Andor just how brutal the fist of the Empire is. When they're threatened following the Aldhani heist, the Empire pushes down harder on its citizens than ever before eventually locking Andor away on bogus charges. It's terrifying to watch him go from total freedom to imprisonment without hope in the space of a few minutes. Only there is hope because the panopticon has one fatal flaw.
Nobody's Listening
Andor clearly demonstrates the idea that the Empire is complacent in its belief that the fear it inspires is enough to maintain order. We see it early in the season during Cassian's monologue about breaking into an Imperial base. "They're so fat and satisfied," he says, "they’re so fat and satisfied, they can’t imagine it." Rebel leader and master spy Luthen Rael interjects, "can't imagine what?" Cassian replies, "that someone like me would ever get inside their house, walk their floors, spit in their food, take their gear."
Cassian has realised that the Empire's power lies in its ability to instil fear. And, most importantly, the Empire is so sure of that notion that it's barely paying attention most of the time. So, when you're not afraid you're almost invisible to them.
We see the full realisation of this idea in the prison escape in episode ten, ‘One Way Out’. Cassian knows that the guards aren't listening to them. They've merely created the illusion of constant surveillance. And when Kino relays that there are only a handful of guards on every level of the prison, Andor realises they can escape. Simply having the threat of being watched/listened to allows the Empire to cut corners. The fact that there are, as Kino notes, “never more than twelve” guards on every level shows the reality of this complacency.
It is this complacency that causes the Empire’s eventual collapse. They believe the "self-propagating mental mechanism" is enough to keep the prisoners in line. Show them what punishment looks like once and then build in the threat of constant surveillance and they'll govern themselves. Only when they realise that the guards aren't actually listening to them are able to rebel.
Coming back to Bentham, Andor manifests the main issue with his "mind over mind" concept. It only works if the observed never questions the constant surveillance. The moment they ask the question, ‘is anyone actually watching us?' then the "self-propagating mental mechanism" begins to break down. Because, if there aren't guards in the tower or guards watching the security cameras to act when the observed breaks the rules then this question becomes a bullet right into the heart of the system.
The really interesting part of the Narkina-5 arc in Andor isn't Cassian's realisation that the Empire's complacency is his ticket out of the prison, it's Kino Loy's. When we first meet Loy he's an antagonist to Cassian. He holds a position of power amongst the inmates as the de facto leader of their floor’s day shift. He upholds the system out of fear that his impending freedom will be removed should the guards witness him or his fellow inmates stepping out of line.
When he finds out that the impending freedom was nothing more than an illusion, the "self-propagating mental mechanism" within him breaks down. "Power doesn't panic," Cassian says. And now Kino knows. He knows that the guards are complacent in their running of the prison. And now he knows he's got nothing to lose. He's no longer afraid and, as we've already established, without that fear the Empire has no power.
Another interesting example of Bentham's panopticon being applied in science fiction is in Stephen King's novel The Institute4. The book follows a group of superpowered kids imprisoned in a facility where they are tested routinely. The threat of constant surveillance through security cameras is there once again. Only, as some of the inmates know, a few of the cameras are old or broken.
The broken security cameras represent the complacency of those in charge, it shows that they believe that the threat of constant surveillance is enough to keep the inmates of The Institute in line. They are, once again, relying on Bentham's "self-propagating mental mechanism" to maintain order.
Beneath the eye
The watchful gaze of the Empire is everywhere in Andor. From Narkina-5 to Mon Mothma being watched by her new driver at the behest of the Imperial Senate, everyone is living inside their own panopticon. The key is that these people eventually realise that the all-seeing eye isn't really all-seeing.
Most dystopian science fiction stories end with the hero escaping the totalitarian government that has kept a close eye on all of its subjects. George Lucas's own THX-1138 culminates in the titular hero escaping his prison and making it to the surface.
Escape is taken as a given in Guardians of the Galaxy, with the guard’s authority never really taken seriously by the fledgeling heroes. The Matrix, which I've talked about before, is about the idea of escaping from a world where your agency is removed through constant surveillance. What is The Matrix itself if not a panopticon?
Of course, there is a flip side to this idea. What about when that complacency isn't present? What about when the threat of constant surveillance is backed up? We see this in Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four where Bentham's 'mind over mind' idea has been fully realised. The power of Big Brother in Orwell’s novel isn't in its armies or hidden security cameras or wiretapped phones, it's in the way it has rewired the brains of the population.
The real panopticon
Beyond the pages of fiction, modern technology has created a kind of digital panopticon. We are constantly being monitored online ultimately allowing for the close regulation of our online behaviour. You are observed online for a plethora of reasons. ISPs pass information to governments to keep tabs on your search history. Businesses observe you to better sell you stuff, an idea that philosopher and psychologist Shoshanna Zuboff calls "surveillance capitalism."
Zuboff also noted the role of the computer as an "information panopticon" as it relates to the observation of worker productivity. Companies can install monitoring software on their employee's workstations to ensure that they are logged in and working. This sort of monitoring is a "one-way information avenue," Zuboff notes. “Your online behaviour and actions can always be seen but you never see the observer," thus creating the perfect manifestation of Bentham's panopticon.
Spark of rebellion
We see in Andor that the panopticon breaks down when the prisoners question the ultimate existence of their observers. But what about our reality where our online habits are tracked and shared and mined for all they're (or we’re) worth? Is this digital panopticon as easy to escape as those we see in science fiction?
Andor is about how revolutions start, how they evolve and how they grow. What the show beautifully articulates is how a rebellion against a totalitarian state becomes something beyond the people involved. When Cassian and the rebels shed their fear the spark of rebellion is lit allowing them to become something more than people. They become heroes, myths capable of inspiring others to take up arms against those that would oppress them. And take up arms they do. The people of Ferrix fight back just as Cassian himself does. The first battle of many in the long war for freedom from the machinery of the Empire. We may all exist under an all-seeing eye, watched at all times to keep us in line. But, just like the rest of us, those in power have to blink and when they do that's when we fight.
In a move that is both weird and weirdly in character, Jeremy Bentham’s bones, covered in a waxwork facsimile of the man himself complete with his own clothes, sits in a glass case at the University College London’s Student Centre. Really.
If you’re looking for a nice introduction to the Panopticon, I can’t recommend this Ethics Explainer article enough. I quote the article a ton here and highly suggest you read it yourself.
This is probably done more out of necessity than as a function of the Empire’s incarceration protocols. They don’t have enough guards to keep an eye on everyone so they have to rely on prisoners like Kino, who have drunk the fear cool aid, to maintain order for them.
This novel is basically King’s take on The X-Men and it totally slaps.
Great insight. And tons of examples. I enjoyed the read.
It's been a while since I have seen it but I remember not liking it too much as it felt mostly like a sequence of formulaic "and then". I had this debate with a friend of mine who liked Andor since it was less Star Wars and more dark for him, I could not get excited about it, though and when looking at each episode with the writer's hat on, I wonder who is going to be surprised by any of it? I need to be surprised every once in a while...