Reform in the Making: The Implementation of Social Policy in Prison. By Ann Chih Lin. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. 213p. $39.50.

Abstract

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.