The Invisible Enclosure: How Community Supervision Inhibits Successful Reentry

ABSTRACT The use of community supervision in the United States has dramatically increased over the past 40 years. Today, there are 4.5 million individuals on community supervision in the United States, nearly double the incarcerated population. Utilizing data from a two-year exploratory study of reentry experiences, we posit that contrary to its stated purpose of rehabilitation and reintegration, community supervision operates under mechanisms that hinder one’s ability to reenter society. Supervision places the formerly incarcerated person within an invisible enclosure that mandates obedience to a system designed to ensure failure. Supervision requirements – reporting requirements, programming, and fees – force the parolee or probationer to decide between their own wellbeing and obedience to the rules. Although some scholars view community supervision as an alternative to incarceration, the reality is that community supervision often serves to delay incarceration rather than serve as an alternative. When situated within a Foucauldian framework, our data illustrates how community supervision is merely an evolution of the carceral apparatus that ignores rehabilitation and serves to perpetuate the carceral continuum.