The Oxford History of the Prison: The Practice of Punishment in Western Society

The word "prison" immediately evokes stark images: forbidding walls spiked with watchtowers; inmates confined to cramped cells for hours on end; the suspicious eyes of armed guards. In The Oxford History of the Prison, a team of distinguished scholars reveal how our ideas of crime and practices of punishment have changed over time, and offer a vivid account of the rise and development of this critical institution.

The authors trace the persistent tension between the desire to punish and the hope for rehabilitation, recounting the institution's evolution from the rowdy and squalid English jails of the 1700s, to the sober and stark nineteenth-century penitentiaries, and finally to the "big houses" of the current American prison system. The text also provides a gripping and personal look at the social world of prisoners and their keepers over the centuries. In addition, thematic chapters explore a variety of special institutions and other important aspects of prison history, including the jail, the reform school, the women's prison, political imprisonment, and prison and literature.

Fascinating, provocative, and authoritative, The Oxford History of the Prison offers a deep, informed perspective on the rise and development of one of the central features of modern society--capturing the debates that rage from generation to generation on the proper response to crime.