Behind the Razor Wire: A Portrait of a Contemporary Prison. (Michael Jacobson-Hardy: New York University Press, 1999).

Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privitization and Human Rights. (Neufield, Campbell, and Coyle (editors), Clarity Press, 2003.)

Celling of America: Daniel Burton-Rose, Daniel Pens, and Paul Wright have collected reports from America’s prisons, many of which ran in Prison Legal News.

Discpline and Punish: The birth of a prison. Michael Foucault examines the history of punishment in France and Britain, and role of prisons in society. (Foucalt, Vintage Books, 1995 ed.)

Going Up the River: Pulitizer Prize winner Joseph Hallinan delivers a clear-eyed, sleekly written and deeply disturbing tour of the privatized prison landscape of America.

Hard Time Blues: How politics built a prison nation. Journalist Sasha Abramsky believes America’s exploding prison population is a fatal threat to civil society. (Abramsky, Dunne Books, 2002.)

Jailhouse Journalism: The Fouth Estate behind bars. A history of prison journalism from the beginnings of the 18th century to the ground-breaking work of Louisiana’s Angloite.

Life in Prison: Stanley “Tookie” Williams is a founder of Crips and a prisoner on California’s death row. This book is a harsh, realistic look at prison life, written for children up to fourth grade. (Hazeldon Books, 1999.)

Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising (Staughton Lynd: Temple University Press, 2004).

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing. Journalist Ted Conover became a corectional officer in order to write the inside story.(Random House, 2000.)

Prison Nation: The warehousing of America’s poor. Written by prisoners, social critics, and luminaries of investigative reporting, this book examines the state of prison conditions and prisoners’ political concerns. (Paul Wright and Tara Herivel (editors), Routledge, 2003.)

Prison Madness: The plight of mentally ill prisoners told by a psychiatrist with extensive experience in large class-action suits challenging mental health care inside prison systems. (Terry Kupers, Jossey-Bass Press, 1999)

Race to Incarcerate: Marc Mauer charts the explosive growth of prisons and the trend toward lengthening sentences. ( New Press, 1999.)

Sensible Justice: Alternatives to Prison. David Anderson explores creative solutions some states and cities nationwide have devised to tackle the prison problem, and confronts many of the myths that have been believed about alternative sentencing. (New Press, 1998.)

Total Confinement: Madness and Reason in the Maximum Security Prison. (Lorna A. Rhodes: University of California Press, 2004).

Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court cases on capital punishment (through 2002), edited and analyzed by Barry Latzer. (Latzer, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002 (2d Ed.).)

Executioner’s Song: Norman Mailer’s classic work on Gary Gilmore, who was the first person executed after the death penalty resumed in the United States. A powerful, evocative book. (Vintage Books, 1998.)

Execution In the Family: One son’s journey. Robert Meeropol was six years old when his parents Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage in 1953. ( St. Martins Press, 2003.)

Justice Denied: Examines the clemency process, the final hope for death row prisoners. Cathleen Burnett probes the decision-making process and uncovers a trail of injustice. (Burnett, Northeastern Univ. Press, June 2002.)