Includes bibliographical references and index.

In Europe, there are four main justifications for imprisonment / Council of Europe -- New Zealand prisons should be for rehabilitation, not retribution / Catholic Bishops of New Zealand -- In Mexico, violence is eroding Catholic attitudes toward punishment / Louis Nevaer -- British crime rates would decrease if imprisonment rates increased / Civitas -- Prison should be abolished / Peter Collins ... [et al.] -- Life imprisonment may violate human rights / Dirk van Zyl Smit -- In India, life sentences are assumed to be for life / Ipshita Sengupta -- In Singapore, juveniles can be detained indefinitely / Chong Chee Kin and Teh Joo Lin -- Honduran juveniles must not be sentenced to adult jails / Melissa Ewer -- Canadians support mandatory sentencing with some judicial discretion / Julian V. Roberts, Nicole Crutcher, and Paul Verbrugge -- In Britain and Germany, innovative sentences increase chances for rehabilitation / House of Commons Home Affairs Committee -- Humane treatment of prisoners is guaranteed by international law / J.L. Murdoch -- In France, prison conditions are deteriorating / Jean-Marc Rouillan -- Turkey's torture of prisoners may be changing / Mustafa Akyol -- Zimbabwe's prison conditions are horrible / Jonathan Clayton -- In South African prisons, rape is widespread / Just Detention International -- Prisons in Post-Soviet Russia incubate a plague / Merrill Goozner -- Australian prisons are ill-equipped to deal with women prisoners / Federation of Community Legal Centres, (Vic) Inc. -- Juveniles in the United States should not be sent to adult prisons / J. Steven Smith -- Iran jailed a prominent journalist for criticizing the government / Golnaz Esfandiari -- China may be harvesting the organs of political prisoners / David Matas -- In China, identifying political prisoners can facilitate their release / Andreas Lorenz -- In Cuba, there are fewer political prisoners but more arbitrary arrests / Dalia Acosta -- Political protestors in Papua should not be imprisoned / Human Rights Watch.

Presents both sides of various arguments pertaining to imprisonment around the world, covering topics such as the purpose for imprisoning people, sentencing, prison conditions, and the plight of political prisoners.