Getting "Beyond the Fence" (ATI reference 61-74)

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）推出了一款虚拟导览项目，承诺为受众呈现联邦监狱内部生活与工作的“亲历式”与“真实化”图景，该项目题为《围栏之外》（Beyond the Fence）。本研究依托对《信息获取法》（Access to Information）披露文件的分析，考察了该虚拟导览在制作、营销与评估全流程中的幕后运作细节。研究借助欧文·戈夫曼（Erving Goffman, 1959）提出的“前台与后台（frontstage and backstage）”理论，以及迪恩·麦坎内尔（Dean MacCannell, 1973）的“舞台化本真性（staged authenticity）”概念，揭示了监禁与刑罚的媒介呈现如何经过去敏感化处理，以构建监禁主义（carceralism）的合法性并获取公众认同。本研究最终反思了研究国家刑罚叙事的内容与形式的必要性，以及此类叙事对迈向无监禁制度未来所构成的挑战。