Origins of the Prison System
While great confinement has been used since the beginning of recorded time to seclude lepers, it was during the black plague that confinement aquired disciplinary mechanisims used to exersize power over individuals and control their relations. During the increased spread of the black plague towns were divided into quarters and assigned to guards. Homes were locked from the outside with families confined inside. If anyone was spotted leaving their homes they would be punished by death. The plague-striken town was controlled through "hierarchy, surveillance, observation, writing; the town was immobilized by the functioning of an extreme power that bears in a distinct way over all bodies- this is the utopia of a perfectly governed society." - Foucault
The hierarchy mentioned above was maintained using binary division and branding, for example; good/bad, dangerous/harmless, normal/abnormal. This binary branding is used as a way to justify the removal of basic rights over those individuals deemed "bad, dangerous, abnormal, and CRIMINAL."
The hierarchy mentioned above was maintained using binary division and branding, for example; good/bad, dangerous/harmless, normal/abnormal. This binary branding is used as a way to justify the removal of basic rights over those individuals deemed "bad, dangerous, abnormal, and CRIMINAL."
Moral Obligation
According to Zygmunt Bauman, we live in a world of "fission", or in other words, a world of 'us' and 'them'. Once an individual is branded as bad or criminal they become "them" which gives 'us' a sense of moral superiority. This is just one-way to 'other' an entire community. This binary branding can be used to exclude entire populations from the realm of moral obligation, leaving many individuals excluded from positive political and social existence. This process has led to recidivism for many recently released cons.
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DisplacedDISPLACED PEOPLE: "Confined in spaces that are out-places, they see their political existance depends no longer (or not only) on their origins but on local contexts or identification, and particularly on the "camps" in which they live." - Michel Agier Convicts do not lose their binary identification as bad or criminal after release, this branding stays with them for life. With a label like criminal and dangerous, ex-cons are not welcomed into society but rather pushed into out-places where crime continues to happen. Prison does not help heal or transform inmates in any way. For this reason many employers, landlords, and social workers often refuse to hire or help ex-convicts. This broken prison system based on punishment rather then rehabilitation leaves ex-cons displaced from society. |
Prison Policy Timeline
Policy has been used throughout history to control populations targeted as 'undesirable'. Black and brown bodies are criminalized at a disproportional rate- currently 58% of adults incarcerated in the United States are black and brown men. There are countless policies in effect today that continue to discriminate and criminalize non-white bodies. Overtime there has been a direct correlation between massive ammounts of incarceration and these discriminatory policies.