The book examines imprisonment in the United States over 500 years, illuminating the forces underlying the paradox of a country that sanctifies individual liberty yet imprisons more persons per capita than any other nation in the world with the possible exception of Russia. The book investigates why a country founded on equality imprisons mostly people of color, showing a rate of incarceration of blacks that is more than eight times that of whites. Among the many topics discussed in the book are convict transports to the colonies; the international trade in captive indentured servants, slaves and military conscripts; life under slavery; the experience of domestic prisoners of war and political prisoners; the creation of the penitentiary; the evolution of contemporary corrections; and what has gone on inside the secret world of prisons. Notes, bibliography, index