獄神廟是帝制中國監獄體系的獨特建置，在官方祀典體系的基層有其一席之地。顧名思義，獄中設置神廟，廟裡供奉獄神。獄神長年奉祀於囹圄之內，「獄官禮其神，繫者致其祭」。這位身繫囹圄之神，無疑是獄中罪囚唯一可以就近祈禱的神祇，更是死囚行刑之前臨質的最後一位神明。最晚自宋代開始，全國各地的監獄中已普遍建祠奉祀獄神，成為衙門裡不可或缺的一項建置，官方每年皆有固定的祭禮、祭期與祭銀。獄神雖屈居於縲絏之中，卻是地方官在兼管司法與執法時的重要輔弼。其被寄望職司的功能，隨著祈禱者的身分而有所不同：司獄的官屬或祈求協助獄政的管理；囚禁中的罪犯或為保佑服刑間的平安，或盼望冤獄得以伸張。受刑的死囚在獄神廟裡作最後的告解或祈禱，執刑的官員仿彿也透過獄神的認證，緩解可能產生的誤判或是錯殺的罪責。獄神分享了執法者的權力，繼而分擔了執法者的責任。官方信仰是國家權力的展現與延伸，但同時也可成為國家權力的制約與緩衝。而獄神在冥冥之中，往往權充司法正義的最後一道防線。 儘管在國家祀典的系譜裡，天神、地祇與人鬼各有清楚的界定，但在地方的實踐上，自然神祇不免有人格化的色彩。獄神亦如同土地與城隍一般，具有「虛位化」的傾向，不僅由塵世的人鬼轉任，而且如世俗的官職般，容或屆滿轉任的可能。本研究以現存方志、筆記與檔案的記載為主，檢視地方獄神的塵世原籍，指證明清時期的獄神仍以佐治虞廷的皋陶為主，漢代制律的蕭何則以江浙地區作為其顯化的腹地，至於其他傳聞中周文王長子伯邑考、宋代忠臣文天祥，以及流傳最廣的晚明獄卒亞孻，則恐怕皆無地方具體奉行的實例為據。本文最後更檢視歷代籲請皋陶移祀出獄的建言，以及站在「去人格化」的立場，要求獄神回歸「地祇」的主張。不過，要等到晚清對獄政體系展開全面興革的檢討時，獄神出獄才終成定局。

Prison God temples were a unique feature of traditional prison design in imperial China. As its name implies, a Prison God temple was constructed inside a prison, where the Prison God would be worshipped. At least since the Song Dynasty, at all levels of government from the capital to the county, anywhere with a jail, there was a temple within to be worshipped by prisoners and jailers. The worship of the Prison Gods was part of the official imperial system of state cults. The Prison Gods were arguably the sole deity available for inmates to pray to. Some confessed their (true) crimes and sought absolution, some hoped for fair or better treatment behind bars, and some longed for a quick imperial pardon. Those suffering from wrongful convictions might pray for an eventual exoneration. Religious belief and legal justice were intertwined in this sacred space. In the official sacrificial codes, although distinctions were drawn between the celestial gods, the territorial spirits, and deified personalities, in practice many of the celestial and territorial deities were worshipped as personified beings. Like the City Gods (chenghuang) and the Gods of the Soil and the Ground (tudi), the Prison Gods were usually deemed transferrable and fungible, and thus were subjected to replacement with other suitable deified personalities. Despite ungrounded rumors concerning newly emerging personalities, two major historical figures were worshipped across the empire as the conventional Prison Gods: one was Gao Yao, the Minister for Law under Emperor Shun who was regarded as the primogenitor of the criminal justice system; the other was Xiao He, the first chancellor of the Han Dynasty who rose from a humble position in a county office to enact a legal infrastructure for the new reigning empire. This article uses local gazetteers and other records to demonstrate that Gao Yao was enshrined in the majority of local prisons while Xiao He was worshipped essentially in provincial regions in eastern and central China. As for other deified personalities also said to be Prison Gods, such as Bo Yikao, the alleged eldest son of King Wen of Zhou, Wen Tianxiang, the last Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty, and Ya Nai, a sympathetic county jailer of the late Ming, there seems to be no specific cases of local worship in Prison God temples. Finally, this article also examines how successive dynasties saw contentions that worshipping Gao Yao in prisons was desecrating this deified personality, and that the Prison Gods should be worshipped as territorial deities instead of personified beings. However, it was not until the late Qing Dynasty, when there was in-depth examination of prison reform, that Gao Yao was finally discharged from the prison system.

獄神廟;獄神祠;監神廟;獄主堂;祀典;人格神;皋陶;蕭何

Prison God Temple;state cults; deified personalities; Gao Yao; Xiao He