Maguire, Morgan & Reiner: The Oxford Handbook of Criminology 4e 
Selected chapters from previous editions
Figures and tables from the textMaguire, Morgan & Reiner: The Oxford Handbook of Criminology 4e
Chapter 32
Discussions of imprisonment ideally take place within the broader context of the debate on the philosophy and sociology of punishment: Nigel Walker's Why Punish? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991) is an excellent introduction to the former and David Garland's Punishment and Modern Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990) is a masterly overview of the major theorists who have explored the latter.
The current organization of imprisonment is heavily influenced by past practice. Michael Ignatieff's A Just Measure of Pain (London: Macmillan, 1978) provides an inspirational account of the emergence of imprisonment as the principal penalty for serious crime at the end of the eighteenth century and The Oxford History of the Prison (edited by Norval Morris and David Rothman, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995) comprises a fine collection of essays by leading historians on the international origins and use of imprisonment.
As far as the contemporary use and organization of imprisonment is concerned, there is no substitute for becoming familiar with the annual reports of the Prison Service and NOMS, the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate's Research Findings (for example, Nos 262 and 260 on CARAT drug services and basic skills training), and the annual Offender Management Caseload Statistics (formerly the Prison Statistics). To access these and many other documents (the reports of the Prisons Inspectorate, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, and the Parole Board, for example), the Home Office website (www. homeoffice.gov.uk) is essential. The websites of the Prison Reform Trust (www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk), NACRO (www.nacro.org.uk), and the Kings College Centre of Criminal Justice Studies (www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/ccjs/events.htm) are also very useful.
As far as introductory texts are concerned Michael Cavadino and James Dignan's The Penal System: An Introduction (3rd edn, London: Sage, 2002) is the best available, although The Prisons Handbook (edited by Yvonne Jewkes, Willan) should become available in early 2007. A thorough analysis of recent attempts to modernize and improve prison life, and their effects on prisoners and staff can be found in Alison Liebling's Prisons and their Moral Performance (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). A scholarly analysis of the important history of imprisonment in Northern Ireland is provided by Kieran McEvoy's Paramilitary Imprisonment in Northern Ireland: Resistance, Management and Release (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
Imprisonment is ultimately an experience which only those who have been incarcerated can adequately relate. Victor Serge's Men in Prison (London: Gollancz, 1970), Rod Caird's A Good and Useful Life (London: Hart-Davies, 1977), Jimmy Boyle's A Sense of Freedom (London: Canongate, 1977), Audrey Peckham's A Woman in Custody (London: Fontana, 1985) and Erwin James' A Life Inside (London: Atlantic Books, 2003), are among the best accounts.
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