The essays were written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of John Howard, who worked for correctional reform in the 18th century and wrote a book on prison conditions in Europe. Each essay follows Howard's descriptive method, usually describing an individual prison from the standpoint of an outsider and including comments about the entire prison system and sometimes about the overall criminal justice process. An introduction notes that little prison reform has actually occurred during the last 200 years and that prisons continue to emphasize control and security. The discussion also describes the factors that hamper reform initiatives. Tables, figure, notes, reference lists, and index.