Separate and contain¶
Historically, epidemics have been managed with great consistency. From the 14th century to the present day, including the cholera epidemic in Nice (France), no matter how advanced the techniques, isolating and confining seems to be the universal way of managing risk. In prisons and, to a lesser extent, in epidemic treatment centres (especially when remedial treatments are unavailable), the main objective is not to treat but to contain and isolate. The function of prisons overlaps with that of health care facilities. Places of confinement manage health and safety risks.
Walls don’t stop the virus¶
Prisons are ecosystems and the virus does not stop at their gates. It does not circulate on its own, yet isolation has only been applied to prisoners and their families. But the virus also circulates through prison officers, who are part of the ecosystem. This is something that prison management failed to consider during the crisis: staff experience was seen more in terms of their connection to work than in terms of the viral spread.
Putting power to the test¶
Epidemics confront the authorities with their own responsibilities. Are they capable of managing life and maintaining it like a “good shepherd”, as Michel Foucault put it? The assessment of the management of an epidemic by the authorities raises the question of their legitimacy. In prison, this has been reflected in all procedures that involved identifying, naming and qualifying the epidemic, i.e., producing figures, even if it means forgetting human beings.
What happens next?¶
Whenever there is an epidemic, it is common to think that everything will be reformed, that nothing will ever be the same. During the AIDS crisis, these same ideas cropped up: people wanted to learn from it. While the emergence of the expert patient with AIDS dramatically changed the way public health was planned and carried out, the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are not as clear-cut.
In prison, Covid-19 has allowed for innovation and improvement by putting the status quo on hold.. It was an opportunity to come up with the most appropriate response for each facility. Early releases have been beneficial in terms of prison overcrowding. Frontline workers have had the opportunity to get creative and have shown a real ability to take action and responsibility.
But how sustainable are these innovations? The rate of overpopulation has returned to its pre-pandemic level, and what will happen to the ability to act that was regained and highlighted by those working on the frontlines after the epidemic? These elements raise more questions than they answer.
It is counter-intuitive to imagine that in France, the best care is provided in prison. If this is the case, what does it mean? Is the reported success in managing the pandemic in the prison sector not linked to the fact that it is just easier to impose and enforce confinement recommendations? Does this not simply indicate that it is easier to prioritise biological survival at the expense of social life?
This reflection is still urgently needed. In this respect, the data and information collection activities carried out by Prison Insider are crucial. It seems that, with Covid-19, the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic period will increasingly become the norm. The return to business as usual in the prison system now heralds a resurgence of infection among the prison population. For some, it will be the same, only worse. For others, the future was brighter before. We must exercise caution and not delude ourselves: rarely is change eternal.
