Explorations in Carceral Geography is a participatory and interdisciplinary seminar series, organised by Christophe Mincke, Franck Ollivon and Anna Schliehe.
Thursday 15 December 2022
Our third Explorations in Carceral Geography seminar formed the closing panel for the 5th International Conference for Carceral Geography on 14-15th December 2022.
Interrogating ‘open carcerality’ and the geographies of open prisons
While most research on penal institutions in geography as well as criminology and prison sociology looks at closed prisons or related closed institutions, open prisons are not only under-researched but also pose considerable conceptual challenges. The idea of open prisons arose as part of reformist movements that took hold differently across jurisdictions and penal policies. Today open prisons only form a small part of prison estates in most countries but they are interesting to study due to their potential to inflict less harm, provide more positive long term outcomes and due to how they sit on the edge of carcerality. In this Explorations session we want to interrogate their conceptual and practical implications while considering both more punitive and rehabilitative carceral environments.
Invited speakers
- Francis Pakes – University of Portsmouth, UK
- Kristian Mjåland – University of Agder, Norway
You can view a recording of the seminar below: