During the last quarter of the twentieth century there was an
explosion in the use of institutional corrections unparalleled
in the annals of American penology. The numbers tell the
story well: Just before the new millennium almost 1.3 million
adults were confined in state and federal correctional facili-
ties, which represents a tripling of the population in just
under 20 years. One consequence of such a policy, and there
are many, is that eventually a large proportion of these
inmates will be released back into society. Their prospects do
not look promising in terms of our current knowledge about
recidivism rates, and we can expect a large and, most likely,
increasing number of these individuals to rejoin the ranks of
the incarcerated. The reasons for this policy failure are
undoubtedly traceable to a number of forces, although one
probably need not look beyond the prison walls as a place to
start searching for answers.