In 1777 John Howard wrote The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with Preliminary Observations and an Account of Some Foreign Prisons. Two centuries later, this extraordinary document commemorates his achievements in campaigning for reform. In the spirit of Howard himself, the Howard League for Penal Reform have compiled detailed observations of prisons from Sweden to South Africa, and from India to Nicaragua. The result is a valuable resource which includes unique insights into previously undocumented prison regimes.

"Tackling Prison Overcrowding is a response to controversial proposals and sentencing set out in by Lord Patrick Carter's review of prisons, published in 2007." "This book comprises nine chapters by leading academic experts, who expose the proposals of the Carter Review to critical scrutiny. They take the Carter Report to task for construing the problems too narrowly, in terms of efficiency and economy, and for failing to understand the wider issues of justice that need addressing. They argue that the crisis of prison overcrowding is first and foremost a political problem - arising from penal populism - for which political solutions need to be found."--BOOK JACKET.

Prison studies has experienced a period of great creativity in recent years, and this collection draws together some of the field's most exciting and innovative contemporary critical writers in order to engage directly with one of the most profound questions in penology - why prison? In addressing this question, the authors connect contemporary penological thought with an enquiry that has received the attention of some of the greatest thinkers on punishment in the past. Through critical exploration of the theories, policies and practices of imprisonment, the authors analyse why prison persists and why prisoner populations are rapidly rising in many countries. Collectively, the chapters provide not only a sophisticated diagnosis and critique of global hyper-incarceration but also suggest principles and strategies that could be adopted to radically reduce our reliance upon imprisonment.

A quarter of a century has passed since the Thatcher government launched one of its most controversial reforms: privately run prisons. This book offers an assessment of the successes and failures of that initiative, comparing public and private prisons, analyzing the possible and claimed benefits of competition, and looking closely at how well the government has managed the unusual quasi-market that the privatization push created. Drawing on first-person interviews with key players and his own experience working in prison finance, Julian Le Vay presents the most valuable look yet at the results of prison privatization for government, citizens, and prisoners.

Written by a former prison governor, 'Pain and Retribution' charts the history of British prisons, from the time of the Norman Conquest to the present day.

Convict criminology is a promising new approach to criminology that is rooted in the study of criminology by people who have firsthand experience of imprisonment. This book is the first to trace the emergence of convict criminology and explore its potential relevance outside the United States, specifically in the United Kingdom and Europe. Drawing on Rod Earle's own experience of imprisonment, Convict Criminology presents uniquely reflective scholarship that combines personal experience with critical perspectives, examining the ways that prisoners, ex-prisoners, and prison research contribute to knowledge of criminology and the ways that racism, colonialism, and class shape both the penal experience and the social world beyond the prison.