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The study investigates the history of prisons in general. In particular, the author outlines how this process has been developed in Romania. The study is conceived and analysed taking into consideration the historical evolution of humanity, firstly the appearance of prisons is approached and afterwards their evolution until the XVIIIth ce ntury. Later on the reform process of the punitive feudal systems until the establishment of modern prisons is analysed. The study pays special attention to the penitentiary system under the communist regime (in particular, the author analyses the penitentiary system in communist Romania). At the end of the study, the penitentiary system in the post-communist period is analysed, suggesting some prospective visions on the future of penitentiaries.

An insightful look through the history of punishment and prisons offers a new perspective on the changes that have been undergone or would occur in the Romanian penitentiary system. In the last instance the Romanian punishment and prisons have not displayed the same functions from their origin till now. The study of documents, old chronics and writings of various historians unveil huge differences in thinking the punishment and the role of prison in different historic ages. There were times when the prisons were situated either in the center of society (in country's Principe or boyars' courts) or times when they were placed at society's periphery. The execution was public or hidden. A trip in the history of the Romanian detention system opens a wide window toward the future of this social system.

In my point of view, someone cannot speak about a constant influence of the Belgian Constitution of 1831 over the Romanian political elite. Not from 1848, at least. The most well known and prized 1848 revolutionary project - the one elaborated by Mihail Kogălniceanu, has been transplanted in a very important amount (60%) from the French Constitution of 1848. Generally speaking, must be emphasized that the principles and the institutions of the Belgian Constitution haven't represented a constant and overwhelming model for the 19th century's Romanian constitutionalism. The birth of the modern Romanian constitutionalism has thus been a difficult process, almost exclusively indebted to the ideological and normative legal import. The imported model hasn't been singular, ruther someone must think about an alternation of the French and Belgian constitutional models. This is why we are speaking about therminological vagueness, normative incoherence, incompletness of the principles and institutional hesitations.