The analysis concludes that most studies on prison crowding do not investigate intervening mechanisms that may account for a relationship between crowding and violence, if and when a relationship is found. Furthermore, one reason for the inconsistent results in which studies is the lack of study of the proximal causes of violence as well as the formal mechanisms prison administrators use to control or limit violence. Moreover, the common finding that dormitories are associated with higher illness reporting rates than are other types of housing is probably an artifact of selection bias. Overall, little consistent evidence supports that contention that short-term or long-term impairment of inmates is attributable to prison density. One reason for the lack of consistency may be that researchers have failed to consider management interventions under periods of high confinement and have failed to account for conditions other than crowding that affect inmate debilitation. Tables, notes, and 83 references (Author abstract modified)