A prologue profiles the legacy of the 19th-century British prison system as an inhumane system inhumanely administered. Subsequent chapters present inmate writings on various aspects of British prison life since 1918. One chapter profiles inmates' initial shock upon entering prison for the first time. It covers the reception by prison staff and inmates, the experience of the cell, the first night, the emptying of the chamber pots each morning into a common sink for all inmates, hard labor, exercise, and the food. A chapter on female inmates addresses admission, routine, inmate characteristics, stigmatization, love between inmates, work, food, religion, discipline, execution by hanging, and ways of coping. Accounts of prison life by male inmates include those of well-known offenders including James Phelan, Wilfred Macartney, Albert Pierrepoint, Charles Kray, John McVicar, Jimmy Boyle, and Lord Alfred Douglas. Overall, these accounts provide an implicit sociology of the 20th-century English prison. They profile empty routines, loneliness, squalor, fights, and inadequate services. The author concludes that, based on what happens to inmates in prison, the prison system should be abolished to be replaced by alternatives to prison that are tailored to the needs of individual offenders. A 162-item bibliography and name and subject index