“Not a Universal Safety Blanket”: Prison Cameras as Incapable Guardians and the Implications for Privacy

• In Event: Seeking Safety in Prison: Promoting Institutional Wellbeing

Abstract

Cameras have become increasingly instrumental in the day-to-day functions within carceral institutions to administer swift, severe, and certain punishment. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with correctional staff and residents in a medium-security facility in the United States, we explore the perceived role that CCTV cameras play in carceral institutions. We found that residents and correctional staff unknowingly relied upon the characteristics of deterrence and routine activities theories in their discussions of CCTV cameras, and their perceptions of whether and how CCTV cameras may reinforce safety and security. Moreover, participants believed institutional reliance on CCTV cameras is not a universal safety blanket as they are (in)capable guardians over “motivated offenders,” which has implications for the privacy concerns of correctional residents.

Authors

• Victoria Inzana, University of Missouri-St. Louis

• Jasmine Kaur, University of New Haven

• Janet Garcia-Hallett, University of New Haven

• Ashley Givens, University of Missouri

• Elizabeth Taylor, University of Missouri

• Beth M. Huebner, Arizona State University

• Kelli Canada, University of Missouri