Are prison and space what we think they are? Reconsidering space and prison through their relationships

Mincke, Christophe [USL-B]

Criminologists usually pay little attention to carceral spaces, and, when they do, they usually do not consider the actual space itself. Likewise, only a few geographers have paid attention to prison, and, when they did, the carceral system in itself was little more than a global context. Although obviously there are exceptions, we can see that the possibilities of a spatial approach to prison are far from being fully covered. On the contrary, carceral geography is an attempt to make criminology and geography initiate a dialogue on ‘the carceral”, one that includes all forms of detention. In my contribution, I shall try to show how space can confront prison, even in its basic principles of a closed and immobilising institution… and how prison can help us to challenge our mere definition of space as a material dimension. On the basis of the parliamentary documents for the Belgian penitentiary law, I shall show that the representation of prison as intricated spaces (material, social, relational, etc.) helps us understand a contemporary discourse on prison and its legitimacy as an attempt to represent the prison as an open and mobilising institution. In doing so, I will also show the potential of a spatial approach to the carceral… on the condition of accepting that space is not just a material dimension.