America's prison population has quadrupled in the 1980s-1990s, with an enormous impact on families, communities, correctional officers, policy makers and prisoners themselves. The use of imprisonment as a means of social control has come to the fore in many public debates - whether the issues be deterrence, incapacitation, public spending, overcrowding or the effects of imprisonment on the offenders' later lives. This work addresses these and related topics, offering analyses of particular issues that deserve greater consideration, such as the effects of imprisonment on the children of inmates, the relationship between prisons and the surrounding communities, medical care in prisons, prisoner suicide and coping, adult correctional treatment, prison management trends and related topics.