Inmate populations and the inner-city neighborhoods where a large percentage of prisoners grew up are culturally and linguistically heterogeneous. Anthropologists are trained to understand culturally complex settings. Data collection and analysis for their own sakes are insufficient in applied anthropology, which focuses on action in the form of training, policy, programs, improving management efficiency, and preventing violence. The author has practiced anthropology in the criminal justice system for the past 10 years. Work a correctional officer in a maximum- security Federal prison the author used an ethnographic methodology to study the organizational culture and determine why new correctional officers resigned at a rate higher than experienced officers. Another project focused on how the social lives of black, Hispanic, and American Indian street criminals affected the minority undercount for the United States Census Bureau. Anthropologists wanting to conduct research or do work in the criminal justice system need to learn about the culture they intend to study, dress and act professionally, explain the practical applications of their research, and be fluent in descriptive statistics. Photograph