Prisons (Hardcover)

From the Publisher: Praise for the previous edition: "An excellent reference work for all who are interested in corrections research...Highly recommended." Choice "...a clear, coherent, concise, and intelligent guide to the study of prisons...[an] extremely thoughtful and substantive bibliographic resource." American Reference Books Annual In 2008, some 2.8 million inmates were held in U.S. federal and state prisons and jails, the highest rate of incarceration in the world. American prisons are highly dangerous places for inmates and prison staff alike. Housing a mix of criminal offenders from drug abusers to serial murderers while ensuring the safety of staff members and protecting the rights of inmates is a complex and daunting challenge undertaken daily in prisons nationwide. That challenge is being exacerbated as more prisoners are entering correctional facilities. Clear and comprehensive, Prisons, Revised Edition examines the state of U.S. prisons and related issues. It focuses on the development of prisons in the United States and how the competing goals of punishment and rehabilitation have shaped the evolution of criminal correction. An overview presents statistics on U.S. prisons and explores the issues behind those statistics, including racial disparity among prisoners and the causes of recidivism. The financial costs of running prisons and the mixed record of private prisons are examined, and laws and legislation relating to issues of incarceration are reviewed.