In this book, Zoe Colley follows civil rights activists inside the southern jails and prisons to explore their treatment and the different responses that civil rights organizations had to mass arrest and imprisonment. While some found imprisonment to be an energizing or inspiring experience and celebrated jail-going as liberating and honorable, others struggled to find a positive value.

By drawing together the narratives of many individuals and organizations, Colley places imprisonment at the forefront of civil rights history and shows how these attitudes toward arrest continue to impact contemporary society and shape strategies for civil disobedience.