Governing Oneself for Life: Situating Michel Foucault's Governmentality at the Louisiana State Penitentiary

• In Event: Risk, Governing and Governmentality

Abstract

Using Foucault’s societal governance triangle that includes the power relationship between sovereignty, discipline and governmentality, this paper illustrates how the inmate-produced media at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola serve as surveillance dispositifs that allow for a mode of self-governance by the inmates. The end result illustrates the potential impact inmate-produced media have on their captive audience and the state as well as an alternative to more punitive – and oft ineffective – control mechanisms.

Author

• Kalen Churcher, Niagara University