Long-Term Care Homes: Carceral Spaces in Times of Crisis or Perpetually?

Abstract

This article explores whether isolation and control observed during COVID-19 are a pandemic effect or a perpetual socio-spatial feature of long-term care (LTC) culture. We use narrative analysis to foreground the experiences of two women with dementia trying to leave LTC: one before and the other during the pandemic. Using the lens of affective citizenship, we argue that the spatial experiences of confinement for people living in LTC are routinely overlooked in popular discourse. We reflect upon how the segregation of older people with dementia in LTC contributes to discriminatory practices beyond these institutions and advocate for a policy of deinstitutionalization.