What does the word 'carcareal' mean when referring to policies?

Solution 1:

Carcareal is almost certainly a variant of carceral meaning "like a prison".

Both seem fairly rare, and restricted to post-modernist writers such as Michel Foucault. You will find phrases such as "carcareal archipelago" or "carceral archipelago", which seem to mean the division of society into prisons, mental institutions and gated communities, with surveillance everywhere.

Solution 2:

It's an obscure formation from the same root as incarcerate, and means prison- or imprisonment-related (or, I suspect in this case, imprisonment-oriented).

Solution 3:

Not sure if the word is misspelled in the book or you mistyped, but I believe you are looking for "carceral," which is defined as "pertaining to prisons or a prison." In the limited scope of context provided, I imagine it is a semi-derogatory reference to the characteristic of 'capitalistic state policies' to simply incarcerate criminals rather than reform them.

Solution 4:

First I think the spelling is incorrect and the word you are looking for is carceral. From Wiki: A carceral state is a state modelled on the idea of a prison. It employs physical boundaries in order to gain control of urban space. In the carceral state, public space is transformed into defendable space, with the installation of walls, gates, fences, surveillance cameras and security checkpoints. Such installations are meant to provide control over urban space. In these spaces, gatherings of strangers to the area are discouraged, and barricades of various forms can prevent people from entering or passing through.