At the Mansion of the Unfortunate. Criminal Anthropometry at the Modelo Prison in Barcelona (1895-1918)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to offer an approach to the history of the anthropometric cabinet for criminal identification at the Modelo Prison in Barcelona between 1895 and 1918, reviewing the confluence of legal, scientific and religious notions that prison correctional officers introduced into the cabinet. Based on these considerations, we will ask the following questions: how criminal anthropometry was consolidated in Barcelona? what were the characteristics of its appropriation process? did this imply a process of transformation of anthropometry by the vernacular postures of those who had access to it? and what were the considerations of the prisoners in relation to this knowledge? In order to answer these questions, this article will methodologically problematize around the perspectives enunciated, first, by the local press and the writings of the representatives of the Modelo prison, through which the ideal of prevention and correction was intersected. And secondly, by seeking a reading from the experiences written by anthropometrized individuals, which offers a constellation of representations conducive to discuss the criminalization of the political enemies, the subaltern classes and the operation itself at the cabinet.