The guide describes more than 300 records series that comprise approximately 4,000 cubic feet of records. Most of the records described relate to inmates and programs at major correctional facilities and the facilities that preceded them. The records date from 1797 to about 1980, most dating from the 20th century. The majority of records relate to programs at maximum-security prisons for male felons, which is the largest segment of the inmate population. In addition, there are records from nearly all other types of correctional facilities, including male reformatories, female reformatories and prisons, juvenile reformatories, facilities for defective delinquents, and hospitals for the criminally insane. The majority of the records described in the guide are administrative and operational records, inmate case files, records containing summary information on inmates, and inmate psychological and health records. Other records described in this guide include special case files and logs of actions pertaining to executions, registers of visitors, chaplains' registers, registers of items provided to inmates, and copies of inmate newspapers.