A brief history of punishment and the British prison system addresses the use of capital and corporal punishment and the movement from the use of the terror and public spectacle of the gallows to the use of the penitentiary as the primary punishment mechanism; previously, prisons were just a holding place until the capital and corporal punishment could be administered. A section on the administration and accountability of modern British prisons includes a discussion of staffing and costs. The discussion of the sentence of imprisonment and types of prisons addresses remand centers, institutions for young offenders, and secure training centers. Local prisons, prison overcrowding, prison regimes, and training prisons are described as part of the adult prison system. A section on the inmate's daily life considers work, education, contact with the outside world, discipline, and medical services. Other topics discussed are the average daily prison population and early release (parole). The latter discussion encompasses the old and new structures of parole, life-sentence inmates, and parole revocation. 13 tables and 64 footnotes