Help with Foucault?

[sloth]

For a short paper assignment (3000 words or so) on political philosophy I am thinking of focusing on Foucault's power/knowledge. I like his ideas on disseminated power and after reading discipline & punish i'd really like to work in the growth of the prison and other institutions and their influence on discourse. Are there any philosophers that spring to mind I could use perhaps in contrast or concert with his ideas? Hobbes' Leviathan would be an obvious choice but i've already studied it a fair bit and the department probably wouldn't appreciate reading their own notes regurgitated to them. I was thinking Marxist considering his ties with it.

In any case if you have read any papers on Foucault that have particularly tickled your fancy please let me know, i'm trying to wade through the bog of literature on him to get a better jist of his standpoint so I can gather some counterpoints but it isn't easy reading and i'm on a bit of a tight deadline. I'm wondering if its even worth reading Derrida if it's just the political side i'm interested in?

I think i've written more in this post than I ever have on these boards but I know there's some smart cats out there and I can't talk to my tutors at the moment because i'm stuck at home. So, if you're feeling generous feel free to throw some tender cuts of intellectual beef my way. Thanks.