In the 18th century, legal expert Jeremy Bentham developed plans for a new type of prison. He called his prison a Panopticon, from the Greek word meaning "all-seeing." It was designed with a central guard tower from which every prisoner could be observed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At any given time, prisoners could never be sure if they were being watched or not, and therefore they would be less likely to break prison rules. In fact, Bentham said that the guards might even leave from time to time: the prisoners, thinking that they were still being watched, would continue their good behavior. Two centuries later, in 1949, British author George Orwell, in his classic novel 1984, wrote about a future society where it is impossible to evade surveillance by the authorities. In the novel citizens are constantly reminded of the authorities' presence by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you.