, hence, do not contain bibliographies or make reference to the underlying source material except to say, in passing, "Tonry writes," or "Welsh found that," etc. Such articles were necessarily excluded from this research, with the exception of one very recent article in the American Bar Association Journal written by a "freelance writer" which has been retained for its statistics (merely referenced as "Source: FBI" without date or other pertinent publication information).
The scant literature which was located, and that which will be presented herein, deals primarily with only two or three topics: overcrowding and funding, privatization of jails and prisons (due to overcrowding and funding issues), alternatives to incarceration (due to overcrowding and funding issues), and the explosive growth of incarcerations (and the demographics of incarcerations)--which has resulted in overcrowding. Additionally, some attitude surveys have examined legislative ideologies toward overcrowding and related issues. And one article included in this research deals with the topic of "Prison Adaptation Strategies of First-Time, Short-Term Inmates."
When the focus of research is delimited to an international scope, the quantity of articles available increases significantly, although the topics do not become substantially more diverse. The principal issues are, once again, increasing incarcerations and overcrowding, but there are also articles on the ethical treatment of prisoners, as well as on improving, renovating, or replacing facilities (since many British and European prisons are relics of the 19th century). These articles have been excluded from the present research, but would not be invaluable in a broader work.
With this in mind, this paper will proceed to review some of the most recent and most significant journal articles dealing with the American correctional system. This is, by no means, an exhaustive literature review, but ...