Immobilisation, relocation and mobility monitoring: on the evolution of the Carceral

Mincke, Christophe [FUSL]

Traditionally, definitions of ‘the carceral’ are grounded on the idea of liberty deprivation, which is seen as consubstantial to immobilisation. Since the mobility turn made it necessary to re-examine the definition of mobility, we suggested that it should be considered as any modification of time-space coordinates, in any space, be it physical or not. Mobility must thus be considered in multiple spaces and the carceral can no longer be studied through the perspective of mere physical space. We have to take into account the multiplicity of spaces and their growing disjunction. We can be physically mobile without loosing social contact with the people we left behind; we can be physically immobile while coming into contact with people all over the world, etc. On the other hand, the rise of mobilitarian ideology has made mobility a central imperative, so that it is praised for itself, including in the carceral context. The contemporary question, therefore, is no longer to immobilise offenders (retribution), nor to relocate them to the place they belong to (rehabilitation), but to manage their trajectory through mobility monitoring. This new aim imposes a combination of requirements for both immobilisation and mobilisation. In my presentation, I shall defend the idea that we must both end up with a definition of the carceral based on immobilisation so as to validate the option of (im)mobility monitoring, and also develop a vision of the carceral based on multiple (im)mobility-levels. Therefore, the idea of a carceral continuum must be abandoned if it implies the vision of a linear relationship between freedom and incarceration (through increase in mobility) and of an opposition between a free mobility and a carceral immobility.