Masks and the Policing of Health

During the COVID-19 pandemic I was writing my dissertation on the New York City jails and kept finding parallels between my carceral research and the debates about masking and its enforcement in the United States. Carceral imaginaries and logics are visible across the pandemic, as calls for people to wear masks were often read as dichotomic issues of compliance/autonomy, discipline/freedom, and control/resistance. These binaries stood in contrast to notions of collectivism, care, and relationalities. Carceral themes were similarly evident in state responses to non-compliance with mask regulations, as law enforcement officers served as the executors of public health regulations. This led me down a path of historical research to better understand the history of masking and its enforcement during prior pandemics. In total, this research has resulted in nine publications, one of which directly connected to my research as it addressed the punitive use of masks in prisons and jails, and the implications of carceral paradigms in the context of global health crises.