provides a comprehensive, critical introduction to the main debates and dilemmas associated with prisons and imprisonment, bringing together a selection of the key readings on the subject, along with a comprehensive introduction and commentary written by the editors. It will be essential reading for students studying prisons as part of courses in criminology, sociology, law, psychology and other disciplines and practitioners working in this field. introduces students to the history and development of prisons, contemporary theories and issues relating to prison populations, to sociological and psychological literature on the 'effects' of imprisonment, and to debates about the management and privatisation of the prison estate and emerging trends.