Beyond Bars: Examining the Hidden Consequences of Carceral Expansion into Family Homes

The massive expansion of the U.S. carceral system over the last half century represents one of the most consequential exercises of state power, marked not only by a rapid increase in incarceration but also a parallel growth of mass supervision. Today, nearly six million people are under some form of carceral control—about 2 million in prisons and jails and 4 million under carceral supervision, primarily probation and parole. This expansion, however, is reflected not only in the increased number of people under carceral control, but also in a spatial extension, as the carceral system extends beyond prisons and jails and into domestic homes. Here, the state exercises surveillance, intrusion, and control in ways that transform family homes into new carceral spaces, representing a significant consolidation of state power. Through supervision policies and practices, the state exerts control not only over the home itself but also over other household members, including those not under formal supervision. Because family homes are typically viewed as non-carceral sites and carceral governance is presumed to apply only to those under formal supervision, the consequences of this expansion have largely remained hidden and underexplored. This dissertation examines the consequences of this hidden expansion into family homes by drawing on in-depth interviews with 92 people in Chicago—47 individuals on parole, probation, and electronic home monitoring, and 45 co-residing family members of someone under one of these forms of supervision. It is structured into three papers, each focusing on a distinct consequence of what I refer to as carceral home invasions—the disruptive and violent act of the state entering family homes and governing its occupants through carceral supervision. In the first paper, I employ the legal violence framework (Menjívar & Abrego, 2012) to examine carceral supervision statuses extend punishment beyond individuals to produce material and emotional hardships in the everyday lives of co-residing family members. I show how these hardships and the constant threat of incarceration disrupted these family members' work and school lives in ways that negatively affected pay, opportunities for advancement, and academic trajectories. The second paper uses the homebreaking framework (Gurusami & Kurwa, 2021) to examine the "spying" and "raiding" of family homes as it traces how 42 individuals under supervision became separated from their families while under supervision. It identifies three aspects of supervision that led to these separations: supervision restrictions, supervision mandates, and enforcement practices. The third paper uses a state sexual violence framework to examine the context of 13 women who experienced sexual victimization by parole officers, police officers, and other supervisory staff while on parole. It explores the context of these abuses and how the women responded while also navigating their parole. Findings reveal patterns in the timing, spaces, and tactics used by state actors to target women alongside variation in women's response strategies. Collectively, these papers make visible several collateral consequences of carceral supervision that have largely remained hidden and received little attention in supervision scholarship.