Navigating the Carceral State: Comparing Latina’s Visitation Experiences in State Prisons and Immigration Detention Centers

• In Event: Latinx Immigrant Detention, Deportation, and the Carceral State

Abstract

Scholars have described the immigration detention system as a shadow of the carceral state (Ryo 2024), yet recent policies and enforcement practices reveal it as a direct extension of the criminal legal system. Despite the growing awareness that immigration detention centers implement policies that enforce criminal punishment, little empirical research has examined how women sustain their romantic relationships while navigating carceral institutions. Given the rising rates of Latino’s incarceration and detention, it is crucial to understand how carceral control expands beyond prison grounds and shapes the barriers women endure in immigration detention centers. Drawing on 50 interviews, this study compares the social control mechanisms Latinas experience when attempting to visit their incarcerated loved ones in state prisons and immigration detention centers. I ask: What challenges do women encounter as they attempt to visit their partners in each type of facility to sustain their romantic relationships? Findings reveal that while immigration detention centers reproduce many visitation practices found in state prisons – such as extensive waiting periods, moral dress codes, and restricted physical contact – they have a greater potential to destabilize romantic relationships due to legal precarity, financial strain, and heightened uncertainty. The presence of ICE agents in detention centers, the sudden transfers of men across the country, and the high costs associated with communication reduces women’s ability to maintain contact with their partners, fostering doubts and concerns about the future. Together, these findings highlight how the carceral state regulates intimate partner relationships and perpetuates racial inequality by disproportionately targeting marginalized communities.

Author

• Elvira De la Torre, University of California-Riverside