Armstrong on Carceral Secrecy and (In)Security

Andrea C. Armstrong (Loyola University New Orleans College of Law) has posted an abstract of Carceral Secrecy and (In)Security, in Race & National Security 90 (Matiangai V.S. Sirleaf ed., Oxford Univ. Press 2023) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

 

This chapter situates the experiences of Black and Latine incarcerated women and femmes within the context of carceral secrecy. Secrecy is often invoked as a necessary element of ensuring traditional conceptions of security. Carceral spaces, which disproportionately confine Black and Latine women and femmes, present an opportunity to critically examine how secrecy can enable insecurity for incarcerated women and femmes of color and their communities simultaneously with the alleged production of generalized security for all. By virtue of their confinement within these secret, gendered, and racialized carceral spaces, incarcerated women and femmes of color experience distinct physical and mental harms. These harms also flow outward, harming their communities as well. Employing an intersectional analysis focusing on incarcerated women and femmes of color raises questions of “security for whom” and highlights how disrupting secrecy is a critical piece of reimagining security.