Incarcerating Criminals: Prisons and Jails in Social and Organizational Context

Placing prisons and jails in the context of their social and organizational environments, this study examines these modern-day correctional institutions and the issues and trends surrounding them. Selections provide historical and contemporary perspectives and data on the institutions themselves, their origins and development, and current controversies such as overcrowding, substance abuse treatment, and health care. Understanding why prisons are built when they are, where they are, and administered as they are requires students to appreciate the inextricable links between these institutions, the rest of the criminal justice system, and the social and political atmosphere that supports them.