Carceral Practices Through Environmental History: A Case Study of Tarutao Vocational Settlement, 1936–1948
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Abstract
In 1938, the Department of Corrections established the Tarutao Vocational Settlement to rehabilitate prisoners through labor and vocational training, utilizing the island's environmental features for both punishment and skill development. The transformation of Tarutao's environment into a vocational settlement thus reveals how the environment was integrated into carceral practices. This article examines the history of Tarutao Vocational Settlement through the lens of environmental history. It will apply the concepts of carceral ecology and workscape to explain perceptions and changes of Tarutao's environment in response to the Department of Corrections' policies. While most historical studies of penal institutions in Thailand have primarily focused on the development of the Department of Corrections, they have overlooked how the environment surrounding each place shapes an ecology of punishment in each prison. This article argues that carceral practices constituted not merely an instrument of state power but also new ecological relations. Natural environments, built environments, the actions of wardens, and the labor of prisoners were interconnected, forming an ecology of punishment.
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References
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