America's prison population has quadrupled in the past two decades, with an enormous impact on families, communities,
correctional officers, policy makers, and prisoners themselves. The use of imprisonment as a means of social control
has come to the fore in many public debates--whether the issues be deterrence, incapacitation, public spending,
overcrowding, or the effects of imprisonment on the offenders' later lives. Prisons addresses these and related
topics, offering thought-provoking analyses of particular issues that deserve greater consideration, such as the
effects of imprisonment on the children of inmates, the relationship between prisons and the surrounding communities,
medical care in prisons, prisoner suicide and coping, adult correctional treatment, and prison management trends,
and related topics.