Introduction

Abstract

Many books have been published on prisons over the past several decades. Why another one? One might take the cynical approach and say that the book provides another line to add to each author’s and editor’s curriculum vitae, another potentially successful project for the publisher. But, as we prepare to cross the threshold to another century, there are more substantial reasons for bringing out a new volume that investigates the prison, one of the most intriguing and intractable of our social institutions.