Carceral State and Mass Incarceration

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to the carceral state, mass incarceration, and historical contexts discussed in lectures.

Workhouse

Institutions associated with the Arc of Discipline, emerging in the 18th century, aimed at disciplinary training for capitalist production through forced labor.

Correctional Training

An element of the Discipline technology of power aimed at replacing bad habits with virtuous ones, often incorporated in institutions like workhouses and prisons.

Primitive Accumulation

A concept described by Marx that refers to the historical process that transforms the means of production from laborers into capital and laborers into wage-laborers.

Panopticon

A model of disciplinary power characterized by constant surveillance to create uncertainty for inmates and enforce correctional training.

Idleness

Seen as a threat to property and order in the Arc of Discipline; linked to crime associated with bad habits.

Eastern State Penitentiary

A main model of the penitentiary system associated with the silent system and total solitary confinement.

Auburn Penitentiary

The other main model of the penitentiary, known as the Congregate model, where prisoners could work and eat together during the day but were confined in individual cells at night.

Recidivism

The tendency of convicted criminals to reoffend; often viewed as a feature of mass incarceration rather than a flaw.

Convict Leasing

A system allowing private employers to use convicted individuals for forced labor, primarily in former Confederate states, often leading to high mortality rates.

Racial Threat

A myth asserting that the empowerment of Black communities poses a public safety threat, justifying aggressive law enforcement.

Resistance (in prisons)

Actions taken by prisoners to oppose carceral conditions, including escapes, strikes, and riots.

Eugenics

A technology of power associated with institutions seeking to identify and remove degenerate individuals and families based on inherited traits.

Degeneracy

A perceived state of biological or moral decline targeted by eugenic theories, viewed as hereditary.

Indeterminate Sentencing

A sentencing model where the length of confinement is not fixed, often reviewed by a parole board.

Prison Litigation Reform Act

Legislation that restricted prisoners' access to federal courts, requiring internal grievance procedures to be exhausted before lawsuits could be filed.

Mass Incarceration

A significant increase in imprisonment rates post-1980, characterized by punitive measures rather than rehabilitative efforts.

Chronic-hyper overcrowding

A condition in prisons identified as a key factor contributing to the crisis of mass incarceration.

Brown v. Plata (2011)

A Supreme Court decision addressing the crisis of medical neglect in California prisons, affirming prisoners' dignity.

‘Prison Fix’

A concept describing how California's prison system evolved using financial and labor surpluses for expansion.

Preservation through transformation

The historical evolution of racial control systems maintaining racial hierarchy through new carceral methods.

Arc of Expulsion

The latest phase in the carceral state, associated with mass incarceration, emerging from urban decline and deindustrialization.

War on Drugs

A significant campaign that increased federal control over criminal justice, impacting mass incarceration.

Mass migration

While not extensively discussed, relates to immigration restrictions and the reentry of populations connected to crime.

Juvenile Court

An institution emerging in the Progressive Era aimed at addressing youth offenses, often influenced by racial biases.

Globalization

Acknowledged as a factor in shifts in penal trends, influencing carceral policies and practices.