Getting "Beyond the Fence" (ATI reference 77-78)

In 2015, Correctional Service Canada launched a virtual tour promising a 'first-hand' and 'realistic' depiction of life and work inside a federal penitentiary titled Beyond the Fence. Based on an analysis of Access to Information disclosures, we examine the backstage activities that went into the production, marketing, and evaluation of the tour. Drawing on Goffman's (1959) notions of frontstage and backstage, as well as MacCannell's (1973) idea of staged authenticity, we reveal how representations of incarceration and punishment were sanitized to build legitimacy and consent for carceralism. We conclude by reflecting on the need to study the content and form of state representations of penality, and the challenges that representations pose to working toward a future without carceral institutions.

2015年，加拿大惩教署（Correctional Service Canada）推出了一款虚拟游览项目，题为《围栏之外》（Beyond the Fence），承诺将以“第一手”且“真实还原”的方式呈现联邦监狱内的生活与工作场景。本研究基于《信息获取法案》（Access to Information）披露的资料，对该项目从制作、营销到评估的全流程幕后工作展开分析。研究依托戈夫曼（Goffman, 1959）提出的前台（frontstage）与后台（backstage）理论，以及麦坎内尔（MacCannell, 1973）的“舞台化真实性”（staged authenticity）概念，揭示了监禁与刑罚的相关表征如何被净化，以此为监禁主义（carceralism）构建合法性并获取公众认同。本研究最后反思了研究国家刑罚表征的内容与形式的必要性，以及此类表征对构建无监禁机构未来所构成的挑战。