Supervision and Surveillance are Social Control

As new elected officials prepare to take local, state, and federal offices, we know that most of these system players will remain committed to the prison industrial complex. Although we can expect new promises, their reforms are likely to re-package incarceration into supervision, surveillance, and social control. 

You can use these messages and graphics to push back against so-called alternatives and fight for freedom and for abolition.

Image description: Text reads “Don’t believe the hype. Reformers market supervision and probation as “fairer,” “kinder,” and “more efficient” alternatives to pretrial detention and incarceration. [Image of apps on cell phones and a surveillance camera.]

Image description: Text reads “Supervision is just another form of social control. It expands the reach of carceral state into our homes and communities.” [Image of a person hitting a pinata at an outdoor picnic birthday celebration, joined by others. A drone hovers ominously overhead.”]

Image description: Text reads “Not all “support” is created equal.” [Image of outstretched hands in four panels. The first shows one hand and wrist extended from a body of water. The second panel depicts the hand shown in the panel before, along with a new hand, which reaches from above the water and extends toward the outstretched hand. This new hand is holding a set of handcuffs. The third panel shows the hand from above high-fiving the hand that is reaching out of the body of water. The hand that reaches from the water is now wearing the handcuff. The final panel shows the handcuffed hand sinking into the water.]

Image description: Text reads “On supervision, your body is not your own.” [Image of a wine glass crossed out and digital thermometer used to detect fevers.]

Image description: Text reads “Even your thoughts and feelings can be used against you.” [Image of some or all of the following: psych meds, a book with a title, “Anger management,” and brain waves on a computer screen.]

Image description: Text reads “And usually, you have to pay to be monitored and controlled.” [Image of a split screen showing: cash, jail bars, and an ankle shackled with a GPS monitor.]

Image description: “Probation — the most expansive “alternative to incarceration” supervision regime in the US — is one of the most significant drivers of mass incarceration.” [Image of razor wire and the inside of a prison.]

Image description: “We want self-determination and resources, not new forms of social control and surveillance.” [Image of three people, looking content, who hug each other. One holds a bunch collard greens; another raises a fist. Flowers and plants surround them.]