COVID-19 and Sites of Confinement: Public Health, Disposable Lives and Legal Accountability in Immigration Detention and Aged Care

Dehm, S; Loughnan, C; Steele, L

COVID-19 and Sites of Confinement: Public Health, Disposable Lives and Legal Accountability in Immigration Detention and Aged Care

Dehm, S Loughnan, C Steele, L

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Publisher:: Law School, University of New South Wales
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: University of New South Wales Law Journal, 2021, 44, (1), pp. 59-102
Issue Date:: 2021-04-09

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Dehm, S
dc.contributor.author	Loughnan, C
dc.contributor.author	Steele, L https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6944-7888
dc.date.accessioned	2021-04-09T03:12:20Z
dc.date.available	2021-01-03
dc.date.available	2021-04-09T03:12:20Z
dc.date.issued	2021-04-09
dc.identifier.citation	University of New South Wales Law Journal, 2021, 44, (1), pp. 59-102
dc.identifier.issn	0313-0096
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/147927
dc.description.abstract	The global COVID-19 pandemic starkly revealed the underlying structural harms and produced vulnerabilities for people living in closed congregate settings like immigration detention centres (‘IDCs’) and residential aged care facilities (‘RACFs’). This article compares the Australian legal regimes that regulate IDCs and RACFs, conceptualising both as authorising and enabling sites of control, confinement and social isolation. We argue that specific COVID-19 measures have intensified a logic of social exclusion and disposability towards people in IDCs and RACFs. Through comparing recent COVID-19 litigation, the article explores the possibilities and limitations of engaging legal strategies to achieve social reform and legal accountability within both sites of confinement. Ultimately, we suggest that such COVID-19 litigation has the greatest possibility of advancing social justice when it is embedded in a broader politics of de-incarceration and abolition oriented towards political inclusion, public health and building more equitable and just communities.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	Law School, University of New South Wales
dc.relation.ispartof	University of New South Wales Law Journal
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	1801 Law
dc.title	COVID-19 and Sites of Confinement: Public Health, Disposable Lives and Legal Accountability in Immigration Detention and Aged Care
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	44
utslib.location.activity	Australia
utslib.for	1801 Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - HJ - Health Justice
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.consider-herdc	true
dc.date.updated	2021-04-09T03:12:19Z
pubs.issue	1
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	44
utslib.citation.issue	1

Abstract:

The global COVID-19 pandemic starkly revealed the underlying structural harms and produced vulnerabilities for people living in closed congregate settings like immigration detention centres (‘IDCs’) and residential aged care facilities (‘RACFs’). This article compares the Australian legal regimes that regulate IDCs and RACFs, conceptualising both as authorising and enabling sites of control, confinement and social isolation. We argue that specific COVID-19 measures have intensified a logic of social exclusion and disposability towards people in IDCs and RACFs. Through comparing recent COVID-19 litigation, the article explores the possibilities and limitations of engaging legal strategies to achieve social reform and legal accountability within both sites of confinement. Ultimately, we suggest that such COVID-19 litigation has the greatest possibility of advancing social justice when it is embedded in a broader politics of de-incarceration and abolition oriented towards political inclusion, public health and building more equitable and just communities.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/147927