Locked up in the open: A geographic perspective on the experiences of individuals subjected to electronic monitoring
The purpose of this article is to contribute to reflections on carceral geography focused on the diffusion of the carceral beyond institutions of confinement. Geographers generally understand this diffusion in terms of the homology between carceral institutions and various other kinds of spaces similarly characterized by the existence of a physical enclosure. We show that this diffusion also needs to be considered from the perspective of the circulation of carceral discourses and representations. We draw upon empirical material from research conducted in France about being sentenced to electronic monitoring (EM), as an alternative to incarceration, to illustrate how the experiences of individuals serving EM sentences strongly echo those of inmates, in spite of the spatial setting where they carry out their sentences differing greatly from that of prison. The interviews we conducted with electronically monitored convicts lead us to conclude that the carcerality of their EM experiences is particularly related to both the discourses that are addressed to them, as well as the procedural acts they are made to perform throughout the duration of their sentence.