There weren’t prisons in ancient Greece as we know them today, only temporary detention centers as criminals were either fined, exiled, or executed.
The concept of incarceration as a form of punishment wasn’t as prevalent as it is in modern times. Instead, penalties focused more on retribution and deterrence rather than rehabilitation.
In cases where someone committed a serious crime, they might face exile from their city-state or even execution. Additionally, debtors could be imprisoned until they repaid their debts, but this wasn’t a formal prison system like we have today. Instead, it was more of a temporary solution to the problem of unpaid debts.
However, the non-existence of the prison sentence, but also the fact that the poor could not pay fines led to the excessive use of the executions for petty crimes.
Ancient Greek society placed a strong emphasis on social control through mechanisms like ostracism, where citizens could be banished from the city-state for ten years if deemed a threat to the community’s stability.
To the Athenians or the Spartans, the idea of locking a criminal in prison was a waste of the city’s finances. There were no prisons like today’s, only some buildings that resemble today’s detention centers, where those awaiting trial or those who had been convicted and awaiting execution were kept for a while.
Such places in city-states were usually called desmōtērion. It housed convicted criminals who were awaiting their execution and perhaps even men who had been arrested but not tried yet.
The desmōtērion of Athens is better known from the case of Socrates, who was held there after his trial until the sacred ship of the city was back — executions didn’t take place while it was away. It was there, near the ancient Agora, where Socrates drank hemlock before his execution.
Historian Virginia Hunter sketched the Athenian desmōtērion. Writing in the Journal Phoenix she said life conditions inside conditions were harsh:
“Inmates were forced to wear fetters and complained of physical hardship. It seems, however, that couches and baths were provided, as well as an opportunity to leave the prison for at least one major festival. The privilege of seeing visitors was not restricted in any way,” the historian says.
Ostracism instead of prisons in ancient Greece
Ancient Athens also employed the method of ostracism, to deal with criminals and political adversaries. To be “ostracized” in classical Athens was to be exiled from the city for a period of ten years. It was a part of the annual democratic processes of Athens and, therefore, not as capricious as it tends to be in most other political contexts.
As Chris Mackie writes in The Conversation, each year the assembly of citizens (“ekklesia”) decided whether to hold an ostracism or not. If they agreed to do so, the process would commence shortly afterward. It was like an election in reverse, a contest in unpopularity that no one really wanted to win.
If the decision was made to conduct ostracism, citizens had the opportunity to write the name of the person they wanted to ostracize on an “ostrakon,” a fragment of pottery suitable for writing on.
The ancient evidence is somewhat contradictory, but it seems that if there were 6,000 votes cast on the ballot, then the person with the highest number of votes was exiled from Athens for ten years. They had ten days to pack their bags and go.
Plato was among the first to propose imprisonment
Plato, a pupil of Socrates, in his work “Laws”, was the first to propose imprisonment. One of Plato’s key principles regarding punishment is the idea of proportionality. He believed that punishments should fit the crime, aiming to achieve justice and maintain social order. He also emphasized the importance of rehabilitation over mere retribution.
Plato proposed a range of punishments depending on the severity of the offense. For example:
Fines: Monetary penalties could be imposed for minor offenses or as a form of restitution to the victim.
Exile: Serious offenses might warrant exile from the community or city-state. This punishment served not only as a deterrent but also as a means of protecting society from individuals deemed harmful.
Re-education: Plato advocated for the idea of re-education or rehabilitation for offenders. Instead of solely focusing on punishment, he believed in addressing the root causes of criminal behavior and striving to reform the individual through education and moral development.
Execution: In extreme cases where the crime was deemed severe and irreparable, Plato acknowledged the possibility of resorting to capital punishment. However, he viewed this as a last resort and believed it should be sparingly applied. doesn’t directly discuss prisons in the modern sense. However, he does offer ideas related to punishment that hint at his view on incarceration.
He emphasizes the importance of reforming criminals rather than simply punishing them. He believed that punishment should help restore the criminal’s soul and make them a contributing member of society.
Plato was much closer than anyone else to today’s penal views, since in his “Laws” he expressed the belief that “no one is evil of his own will.” Therefore, even indirectly formulating the theory that society also has part of the responsibility for the transformation of a citizen into a criminal, it was now logical to propose means of social punishment and the return of this person to normality.
Aristotle challenged the Platonic views, claiming that criminals are socially dangerous and concluded that they should be punished as harshly as animals, depending on the crime.