This encyclopedia provides a rigorous and comprehensive summary of correctional systems and practices and their evolution throughout US history.Topics include sentencing norms and contemporary developments; differences between local jails and prisons and regional, state, and federal systems; violent and nonviolent inmate populations; operations of state and federal prisons, including well-known prisons such as ADX-Florence, Alcatrez, Attica, Leavenworth, and San Quentin; privately run, for-profit prisons as well as the companies that run them; inmate culture, including prisoner-generated social hierarchies, prisoner slang, gangs, drug use, and violence; prison trends and statistics, including racial, ethnic, age, gender, and educational breakdowns; the death penalty; and post-incarceration outcomes, including recidivism.The set showcases contributions from some of the leading scholars in the fields of correctional systems and practices and will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about American prisons, jails, and community corrections.


Vidisha Barua Worley, PhD, Esquire, is associate professor of criminal justice at Lamar University and a founding member of the Institute for Legal Studies in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University.Robert M. Worley, PhD, is associate professor of criminal justice and director of criminal justice programs at Lamar University and a member of the Institute for Legal Studies in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University.