In 1989, New York City opened a new jail. But not on dry land. The city leased a barge, then called the 'Bibby Resolution,' which had been topped with five stories of containers made into housing, and anchored it in the East River. For five years, the vessel lodged inmates. A floating detention center is a curiosity. But then, the entire history of this barge is curious. Built in 1979 in Sweden, it housed British troops during the Falkland Islands war with Argentina, became worker housing for Volkswagen employees in West Germany, got sent to New York, also became a detention center off the coast of England, then finally was deployed as oil worker housing off the coast of Nigeria. The barge has had nine names, several owners, and flown the flags of five countries. In this one vessel, then, we can see many currents: globalization, the transience of economic activity, and the hazy world of transactions many analysts and observers call 'the offshore,' the lightly regulated sphere of...
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