Carceral geographies: Primacy of security and risk thinking

Abstract der Sitzung

After the first session at DKG on carceral geographies in 2019, we would like to invite papers on the topic again this year. We will focus on the currently dominant orientation towards the primacy of security and risk thinking, which is also criticized from various directions. This primacy is being asserted in various institutions of confinement (such as correctional institutions, but also centres for asylum seekers and others). In contrast, other institutions, such as some psychiatric hospitals in the Goffmannian reading, show a development towards a focus on the well-being of the patients and residents and a radical turning away from the idea of coercion for the purposes of security and risk minimisation.

At the same time, however, the primacy of security and risk thinking is repeatedly criticised. In addition to the risk orientation of forensic psychology (which aims to reduce the risk of serious recidivism), alternative concepts are currently being tested in the prison system. In various countries, concepts such as desistance are being tested in different contexts. In this context, people are supported to rebuild their lives in society. Resources such as networks, anchoring in the community and aspects such as work and housing are central. Freedom from crime is more or less a by-product. Abolitionism is another alternative, which is discussed on a theoretical and political level and fundamentally questions systems such as the penal system.

Contributions are invited focussing on different institutions of confinement and on different national contexts, as well as theoretical reflections on the topic. The contributions should be oriented towards one or more of the following questions:

_ What are the effects of risk orientation and safety thinking on incarcerated persons and/or staff in the institution?

_ How is the primacy of risk orientation and security thinking socially legitimised?

_ What alternatives exist and how and with what effects are they discussed, tested, introduced or already established?

_ What are the geographies of societal support for persons with an experience of institutions of confinement?

Contributions can be submitted and held in English or German.