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by Izzie Rodríguez-Torres
Personhood and citizenship are one of the most important topics when studying politics. More times than not there is a matter of, who is making the laws and who are they applying to? Who is benefiting and/or being excluded from these laws? Why are they applying to one group over the other? This and many more questions should be in people’s minds when they are voting because privilege and ignorance work in many ways. For example, when it comes to civic duties, incarcerated people are stripped from their right to vote when laws are formed yet will feel the repercussions once these laws are made. More specifically, during the 2020 pandemic and California wildfires, incarcerated people are forced to work during the wildfires with little pay and yet cannot take part in deciding how the government should take care of its public land. Are they being taken into consideration? They are not, which is why during this course I will explore a concept of incarcerated people’s rights, otherwise known as carceral citizenship: What social rights, if any, should incarcerated persons have during a global pandemic, like Covid-19?
In Reuben Jonathan Miller and Forrest Stuart’s, “Carceral Citizenship: Race, Rights and Responsibility in the Age of Mass Supervision” they examine incarcerated people’s rights or lack thereof and transform it into carceral citizenship. They ask, “What does it mean to have an alternate category of citizenship where the civic, social and economic freedoms of an entire social group are uniquely constrained and expressed?” This question not only emphasizes the type of citizenship incarcerated people faced, it also addresses the lack of involvement they have in a system that they are still a part of. This article dives deeper into how the government is part of the problem and how mass incarceration is a result of political citizenship. As a result, the article serves as an example in the need for incarcerated people rights.
Resources:
Miller, R. J., & Stuart, F. (2017). Carceral Citizenship: Race, Rights and Responsibility in the Age of Mass Supervision. Theoretical Criminology, 21(4), 532–548. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480617731203
