A comprehensive overview of American penology covering practices, historical precedents, ideologies, changing attitudes, system descriptions, and trends in prison management, as well as noteworthy penal literature. The entries are alphabetically arranged in a concise dictionary format and are cross-referenced to clarify the more technical penal terminology. There is a brief description of each state prison system and major components of the federal system are discussed. Entries include administrative structure, components of the adult and juvenile inmate populations in their respective...