Tracing both the history of the prison and the very idea of imprisonment in the United States, this book provides a critical overview of American prisons and considers their past, their present and directions for the future.

Through personal essays, poems, stories, reports, and manifestos, this offers an unprecedented view of the realities of women's experiences as they try to sustain relations with children and family on the outside, struggle for healthcare, fight to define and achieve basic rights, deal with irrational sentencing systems, remake life after prison; and more.

Examines the issues surrounding imprisonment from a variety of international perspectives. The purpose of imprisonment -- Sentencing and imprisonment -- Prison conditions -- Political prisoners

Aims to provide a critical overview of penal institutions within a historical and contemporary framework. Issues of race, gender, and class are fully integrated throughout in order to demonstrate the complexity of the implementation and intended results of incarceration. The Encyclopedia contains biographies, articles describing important legal statutes, and detailed and authoritative descriptions of the major prisons in the United States.

A powerful document of the inner lives and creative visions of men and women rendered invisible by America’s prison system.

Collects a largely unseen visual record of daily life inside one of America's oldest and largest prisons-- demonstrating how this archive of the state is now being used to teach visual literacy and process the experience of incarceration.

The photographs of Ex Crucible show incarcerated men and women creating artworks with a talent, passion, and authenticity that illuminate the humanity of the artists. These intimate photographs demonstrate the importance that creativity can have in these bleak, controlled spaces.

How one state has been trying new reforms that decrease the prison population and save money.
Produced by Frank Carlson in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

Takes an intimate look at the cycle of incarceration in America, and one state's effort to reverse the trend.