The future of corrections research can move in one of two ways. Either it can continue to search for justifications for the prison system as the centerpiece of the corrections system, or it can conceive and test new ways of dealing with crime. Those who persist in touting the prison system as primary for a corrections system continue to find new justifications for its wholesale use even though research shows its general ineffectiveness in rehabilitating inmates. Deterrence, incapacitation, justice, and retribution are among the rationales proposed. There is no evidence that prison is the only or even the best means of achieving these aims. Although prisons will continue as secure facilities for housing dangerous offenders, they should not continue to be the primary focus of corrections research and policy. Corrections research already suggests that the most effective offender programs involve offenders in the structure and influences of healthy and law-abiding communities rather than alienating them from such communities in a criminogenic prison subculture. 27 references.