Where can I get free? Everyday bordering, everyday incarceration

Abstract

This paper draws on the growing body of geographical literature on carceral spaces and carcerality to explore alternatives sites of incarceration in everyday life and also to look beyond the state as a carceral actor and agent. In particular, it focuses on “unfreedom” and the punitive elements of UK immigration controls from the perspective of those who have left violent domestic situations and in doing so have been forced to apply for leave to remain in the country. The paper highlights the ways in which, in enacting the spatial violence of immigration policies and controls, everyday actors, such as sales assistants and landlords, become agents in the “continuum of unfreedoms.” The discussion, therefore, seeks to define carcerality beyond the institution as not only linked to institutional carceralities but as existing in and of itself in and around us in everyday life. In particular, it is argued that from a feminist perspective there is a need to better understand these everyday carceralities in the process of seeking asylum, as women are less likely to be incarcerated in state institutions. The paper also demonstrates the complex roles of non and quasi‐state actors in shaping the “unfreedoms” of everyday life for those seeking leave to remain in the UK as a result of domestic violence.

Towards geographies of child protection

“…To suggest just two: we have focussed only upon England as a context for discussion and there are important and complex historical geographies of colonial pasts that require consideration. Similarly, there is increasing effort in geography to reveal processes of ‘everyday bordering’ (Cassidy, 2019), where the state's border is outsourced to other agents. A consideration of the agency and resistance of child protection social workers to these activities is another area that requires attention.…”

The UK’s hostile environment: Deputising immigration control

“…Lawful migrants, European Economic Area (EEA) nationals and British citizens are caught up in the process. Such harm is felt unevenly across society, particularly affecting those most likely to be subject to checks or most unlikely to have documentary evidence of their identity or immigration status, such as asylum seekers (Cassidy, 2019), pensioners, precarious workers and those with chaotic lives, low income or health problems. By encouraging existing and new forms of exclusion and risk-profiling, the hostile environment reinforces hierarchies of belonging and differentiated membership.…”

Labour, carcerality and punishment: ‘Less-than-human’ labour landscapes

“…Wacquant (2008, 2009), whose work has been instrumental in moving research on the carceral beyond criminology, has illustrated the relationship between disinvested urban neighbourhoods and the prison. This has led to debates among scholars concerning carceral spaces that exist beyond institutions so as to form part of a continuum between the prison and other social and geographical spaces (see also Hamlin and Speer, 2018; Cassidy, 2019; Armstrong and Jefferson, 2017). However, whilst this increasing focus on carcerality is welcome in human geography, it also challenges geographers to re-consider punishment and its various spatialities, practices and processes across a range of contexts.…”

“…In the UK, those without dependent children will find that they have no recourse to public funds and will be left destitute. When entitled to state support, asylum seekers in the UK receive only half of the sum paid to the unemployed and, up until recently, this support was often not given in cash but in the form of a payment card that could only be used at restricted outlets (Cassidy, 2019).…”

“…Carceral geography has increasingly developed an understanding of the carceralities of non-prison places such as immigration detention centres (Loyd et al, 2012;Mountz et al, 2012), homes (Moran and Keinänen, 2012), psychiatric asylums (Philo, 2004;Curtis et al, 2013) and hotels (Minca and Ong, 2015). In light of these important interventions that have de-centred the focus on institutional carceralities (Moran et al, 2018;Cassidy, 2019), it is our argument that labour, with its critical role in the emergence of the modern penal system (Foucault, 1991(Foucault, [1977), as well as its location at the heart of contemporary neoliberal state formation, makes for a crucial site for exploring punishment. In particular, it is a perspective where we can explore new spatialities of punitive labour and expand geographers' 'beyond prison' explorations of punishment.…”