1. Introduction: Issues in Correctional Research and Policy -- 1. The Prison as a Rational Organization -- 2. Prisons, Politics, and Demographics -- 3. The Private Sector and the Prison -- 4. The Prison and the Prisoner -- 5. The Prison as a System -- 6. The Future of Correctional Research -- I. Corrections as a System: Contemporary Issues -- 2. American Prisons in a Time of Crisis -- 3. The Effectiveness of Correctional Rehabilitation: Reconsidering the “Nothing Works” Debate -- 4. Proprietary Prisons -- II. Legal Issues in Contemporary Corrections -- 5. American Prisoners and the Right of Access to the Courts: A Vanishing Concept of Protection -- 6. Gender and Justice: The Equal Protection Issue -- 7. Criminal Sentencing Reform: Legacy for the Correctional System -- III. Managing the Prison -- 8. Prison Labor and Industry -- 9. Prison Classification: The Management and Psychological Perspectives -- 10. Prison Guards as Agents of Social Control -- IV. Living in Prison -- 11. Noncoping and Maladaptation in Confinement -- 12. Inmate Adjustment to Prison -- 13. Correctional Environments -- V. Corrections Research and the Future -- Epilogue: The Researcher’s Work Is Never Done.

Despite the dire forecasts of others who had themselves edited books, we proceeded with the project of an edited volume on the American prison, although with more than a little trepidation. We had heard the horror stories of authors turning in their chapters months or years late or never at all, of publishers delaying publication dates, of volumes that read more like patchwork quilts than finely loomed cloth. As if to prove the others wrong, our experience in editing this volume has been mar­ velous, and we think the volume reflects this. Most likely, the success of our experience and of the volume stems from two elements: first, the professionalism and commitment of the authors themselves; and second, the fact that early in the life of this volume, most of the authors convened for a conference to critique and coordinate the chapters. This book brings together an illustrious group of criminologists and correctional scholars who wrote chapters explicitly for this volume. Co­ hesiveness was furthered by the charge we gave to each author to (1) present the major issues, (2) review the empirical research, and (3) dis­ cuss the implications of this work for present and future correctional policy. The goal of this project was to examine the major correctional issues facing prison systems. The chapters scrutinize the issues from the perspective of the system and the individual, from theory to practical and daily management problems, from legal to psychological concerns.

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