Security and Discretion: The Struggles of Prison Visitors and the Politics of Control

Abstract

This article examines how Canadian prison visitors experience surveillance, discretionary power, and institutional opacity at the point of entry. Drawing on experiences as educators, researchers, and volunteers, we critically analyze how staff regulate access through dress codes, contraband policies, and technologies of inspection. While justified as security measures, these practices enforce carceral control, reinforce gendered expectations of respectability, and discourage meaningful connections. Discretionary enforcement, particularly around attire, creates ambiguity, discomfort, and unequal treatment. We argue that visitation is a key site where carceral logics are enacted and call for greater transparency and consistency in how access is granted or denied.