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A tells me how she continues to be fascinated with AI’s displacement of human workers who might normally interact with prisoners and how it furthers isolation. She shares that in early prison scholarship, especially Goffman’s Asylums, prison life was understood as “a world apart.” Life in “total institutions” was just that, totally separated from the free world. 

A goes on to share how contemporary research has pushed back upon this considerably, showing the porosity of prison life—how the rhythms of the free world—labor markets, mating patterns, etc.— moderate the experience of incarceration. In breaking yet another connection to the outside world, the rhythm of prison interiority changes, becoming more isolated. 

She generously brings up a studio test I made on campus creating audio-reactive visual dots and how they were a simple reminder of administrative decisions' stakes (beyond those of privacy and data, etc.).