Hard Time: A Fresh Look at Understanding and Reforming the Prison, 4th Edition, is a revised and updated version of the highly successful text addressing the origins, evolution, and promise of America’s penal system.



Draws from both ethnographic and professional material, and situates the prison experience within both contemporary and historical contexts
Features first person accounts from male and female inmates and staff, revealing what it’s actually like to live and work in prison
Includes all-new chapters on prison reform and on supermax correctional facilities, including the latest research on confinement, long-term segregation, and death row
Explores a wide range of topics, including the nature of prison as punishment; prisoner personality types and coping strategies; gang violence; prison officers’ custodial duties; and psychological, educational, and work programs 
Develops policy recommendations for the future based on qualitative and quantitative research and evidence-based initiatives

Foreword by: Francis T. Cullen
Afterword by: Alison Liebling