Paper short abstract:

Surveillance Dynamics in a Post-Disciplinary Prison in Belgium : Unpacking the Interplay of Human and Technological Controls Through Professional Practices of Surveillance.

Paper long abstract:

This study examines the complex interplay of human and technological control mechanisms in a newly established maximum-security prison in Belgium. Through an analysis of surveillance practices, it sheds light on the negotiation of diverse professional roles. The facility, known as the Penitentiary Village, is presented as a "model" of humanized detention, achieved through peri-urban-inspired architecture, technological devices, and a reform of penitentiary personnel. This reform entails a redefinition of the penitentiary agent's role towards a social reintegration mission and a functional redistribution of surveillance tasks.

These changes are linked to contrasting security concepts: frontline personnel, referred to as "accompaniers," are assigned tasks of "active surveillance" aimed at dynamic security based on positive staff-inmate relationships. Meanwhile, the Control and Information Post (CIP) remotely manages control of people's movements through technological devices (cameras, remote door opening) – termed "passive surveillance." Contrary to its label, the CIP plays an active role as a third-party agent, challenging the traditional staff-inmate dichotomy of "surveillor-surveilland."

In the context of an ideological shift in professional missions (post-disciplinary prison) and the significant recruitment of untrained accompaniers, the CIP's surveillance underscores resistance and control over accompaniers' practices, viewed as too lenient or social. Accompaniers claim their rehabilitation efforts are hindered as they are consistently directed remotely by the CIP, compelling them to adjust their practices. The model, ostensibly promoting inmate autonomy through technology and interpersonal relationships, paradoxically intensifies surveillance by implementing a more diffuse, comprehensive, and discretionary control authority.