A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #366 - Culture - Read: Sarah Dindo, "Between Jail and Land: Building an Alternative to Prison" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In "Between Jail and Land," Sarah Dindo opens the doors to Emmaüs 
Lespinassière, a farm dedicated to the reintegration of inmates nearing 
the end of their sentences. From the project's inception to the 
opportunities it presents, the book recounts this human adventure from 
the perspective of the farm's key players. It also includes reflections 
on alternatives to prison, life stories of the prisoners living on the 
farm, and an examination of both the challenges faced and the solutions 
adopted.

In the prologue, the author criticizes the "neo-Foucauldian" stance that 
suggests probation as an alternative to prison is never a step forward. 
In a lecture Michel Foucault gave in Montreal in 1976, later published 
as "Alternatives to Prison" (Divergences, 2020), the philosopher 
demonstrates that existing alternatives merely reproduce the mechanisms 
and functions of prison outside its walls.

From this perspective, Emmaüs Lespinassière represents a genuine 
attempt to break free from the usual prison model. There, the project's 
staff, who are in daily contact with the inmates, refuse as much as 
possible to assume certain prison roles: surveillance and control. In 
the triptych of self-punishment, family, and work that forms the essence 
of the "alternatives" described by Foucault, none of the principles are 
truly respected at Emmaüs Lespinassière.

Certainly, there are prohibitions and a curfew imposed by the prison 
administration, which have a self-punitive character and hinder the 
inmates' progress toward reintegration. However, these arbitrary rules 
are debated and challenged by the Emmaus staff, who strive to ensure 
that every rule implemented on the farm has a meaning that is 
understandable and comprehensible to the inmates. They contest these 
prohibitions with the prison administration and sometimes obtain their 
relaxation. For Foucault, the family acts as an agent of correction in 
the alternatives to prison he describes. In Emmaus farms hosting 
inmates, it is the employees and volunteers, who are therefore 
voluntarily committed, who play this role of agent of correction, and 
not the inmates' families. On the other hand, the close proximity of the 
staff to the inmates and the obligation to report to the prison 
administration creates a tension that is indeed one of the main 
difficulties the structure faces in properly supporting the inmates. 
Finally, working the land is merely a pretext for addressing the various 
difficulties that would hinder their reintegration after the end of 
their sentence.

Beyond enabling a few inmates (about ten per farm) to better prepare for 
their release from prison, the experiments conducted by Emmaüs aim to 
demonstrate concretely that a progressive alternative to the penal 
system is possible.

Julien (friend of AL)

Sarah Dindo, Between Jail and Land: Building an Alternative to Prison, 
Éditions du Commun, 2023, 302 pages, EUR15.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Lire-Sarah-Dindo-Entre-taule-et-terre-Construire-une-alternative-a-la-prison
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