NCJ Number
206655
Journal
Punishment & Society: The International Journal of Penology Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2004 Pages: 255-270
Date Published
July 2004
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes whether the use of Web cameras inside a downtown Phoenix, AZ, jail facility signifies a shift in the American penal system.
Abstract
In July 2000, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio implemented a penal innovation in the Madison Street jail: Jail Cam. Four cameras were placed within the facility which captured arrestees entering the jail in handcuffs, the booking process, and the activities of the inmates within their holding cells. These images were placed on the Internet for interested viewers worldwide. After 2 years, Jail Cam was taken offline because of a business failure of its Internet host; additionally, in March 2003, a Federal District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the use of Jail Cam until the outcome of a multi-billion dollar lawsuit filed by inmates. The author analyzes Jail Cam as it fits within this particular penal regime as a publicity generating form of media, as well as how Jail Cam is situated within the broader and constantly shifting American penal system. It is asserted that Jail Cam extends other penal strategies currently at work within the American system, in particular the reduction of punishment to an entertainment commodity. The expanding commodification of crime control in American culture allows a place for innovations such as Jail Cam, which ultimately serves to entertain viewers around the world. The author considers whether the other criminal justice practices of Sheriff Arpaio, which have included women’s chain gangs, humiliating attire for inmates, and stark tent jails in desert plots, can inform the theoretical debate about how the contemporary American criminal justice system is evolving. The future status of Jail Cam, which will rely heavily on the Federal Courts, may provide the necessary evidence about how the face of penality is changing in American culture. While Sheriff Arpaio’s policies are certainly penal outliers, the impact of such policies should not be disregarded; indeed, the Jail Cam in Maricopa County jail has contributed to the transformation of punishment as an entertainment commodity. In the end, such commodification of punishment will belittle the very real pain of punishment inflicted upon prisoners into nothing more than mere fodder for others. Notes, references