During the last decades, a strong thematic, spatial and temporal expansion has prompted the rethinking of key concepts in labour history. New ideas of “work”, “labour relations” and “the working class” have been proposed and the traditional distinction between “free” and “unfree” labour has given way to the analysis of the making of labour coercion. This keynote lecture seeks to contribute to these transformations by looking at the punitive practices that have produced and reproduced multiple dimensions of labour coercion in several historical contexts. In particular, it addresses the making of convict labour, the role of punishment in the im/mobilization of labour, and the way punitive processes have intersected with the paternalist mode of domination. In the process, the keynote offers the concept “punitive configurations” as a dynamic analytical tool to address the relationship between punishment and society.