Carceral experiences and custodial lifeworld of prisoners’ families: The impacts of ion scan technology in Canadian prisons

Abstract

The effects of imprisonment have been well-documented to go beyond the walls of carceral institutions and beyond the individual subjected to confinement. This article analyzes the expansion of carceral experiences in the lives of family members of Canadian prisoners, focusing on the use of the Ion Mobility Spectrometry device during prison visits. Drawing on testimonies, this article explores how the ion scanner not only affects the experiences of families in carceral spaces but also how the impacts are carried out into their everyday lives outside prison walls. The socialization undergone due to “secondary prisonization” leads family members to adopt a “custodial citizenship” which ultimately shapes how they interact and navigate the world—a citizenship and way of life that is unique to having an incarcerated loved one.