In the opening essay, the history of prison riots in America is reviewed, followed by an analysis of the conditions and circumstances that generate prison disorder, using the 1981 Michigan prison disorders as a case study. Prison violence is then discussed using a typological approach to categorize violent phenomena in correctional institutions according to their controls, participants, and goals. Another paper provides an overview of some of the major costs, causes, and preventive and diagnostic measures associated with prison disturbances. The prison environment is identified as an important factor in prison violence in one essay, and the 'open' prison is advocated as the preferred environment that can help reduce inmate violence. An empirical study of the relationship between architectural factors and the incidence of inmate violence reports that the housing area was found to be the most frequent site for assaults. Two essays dealing with sexual violence in correctional institutions focus on (1) the nature, extent, and consequences of homosexual harassment in prisons and (2) the attitudes, behaviors, attributes, and sexual and racial differences of sexual victims in a triracial coeducational correctional system. Other essay topics cover the relationship between inmate ethnicity and inmate suicide, the effects of determinate sentencing on inmate misconduct, the crisis of meaning in the prison, 'lifers,' and the treatment of the 'dangerous' offender. Bibliographic entries accompany the essays. For individual documents, see NCJ 91658-67.