The section on the history of jails in the United States considers their control by local political authorities, workhouses, the history of the Walnut Street Jail in Philadelphia (1776), jail developments since the Walnut Street Jail, and the current number of jails in the United States. A section on jail inmate characteristics contains a table that shows the percentages of jail inmates with various characteristics and conviction status for the years 1996, 1989, and 1983. Inmate characteristics encompass sex, race/Hispanic origin, age, marital status, education, and military service. The functions of jails are then discussed as follows: holding pretrial detainees; housing offenders for short terms; holding witnesses in protective custody; holding convicted offenders who are awaiting sentencing; temporarily housing juvenile offenders; confining misdemeanants, drunks, and derelicts; housing the mentally ill; holding prisoners wanted by other jurisdictions on detainer warrants; holding probation and parole violators; and accommodating State and Federal prison inmate overflow. The chapter concludes with descriptions of various types of jail inmates (pretrial detainees, convicted offenders, drunk and disorderly persons and transients, the mentally ill or retarded, chemically dependent offenders, and juvenile offenders). 2 tables, key terms, questions for review, and 5 suggested readings