It notes that changing societal values have affected the lives of imprisoned persons in that the needs of inmates have been addressed more diligently at some times than at others. Major themes of the chronology are the procurement of adequate money to operate the system safely and to prevent overcrowding; the rise, fall, and return of private business to the prison system; and the progress of efforts to reform the system. Efforts to deal with overcrowding, the use of convict labor, and the conflicts between reform efforts and political pressures are described. Excerpts from the 1889 journal of a Kentucky penitentiary warden are also included to show the handling of specific prisoners and attitudes toward them.