The author believes this process occurs most effectively when directed by "outsiders" who focus on education rather than on therapy or coercion. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws on a combination of literary sources, prison interviews, statistical data, and the author's own experience in teaching inmates in prisons, this book re-examines the history of treatment and education programs in prisons in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the modern era. The central issue of "what works in prison" is addressed by examining the meaning of the word "works" in the context of the modern criminal justice system and in the culture as a whole. Through revisiting the record of successful rehabilitation efforts, the author argues that through education programs, prisons can provide for a more "natural," "organic," or "authentic" process of self-transformation through empowerment, communication of values, and the formation of new interests. Since neither this nor any other approach will work for every inmate, it is essential to understand how it works for some and why it fails for others. Chapter notes and a subject index