E-Carceration is the use of technology to deprive people of their liberty.
Electronic monitors are the most well known form of e-carceration. Also, when
combined with house arrest EM likely represents the most punitive or restrictive form of E-Carceration. Typically, the state via the criminal legal system, enforces E-Carceration. But corporations are also getting into the act by charging fees for repressive regimes of pretrial release, parole and probation which often include monitors.
If we don’t resist, E-Carceration may be the successor to mass incarceration as we exchange prison cells for being confined in our own homes and communities.
E-Carceration also includes a range of technologies that gather information about our daily lives that can curb our liberty. These technologies include: license plate readers, Stingrays, facial recognition software and metadatabases which house information gathered from all these sources of surveillance.
