The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the factors – historical, political, and institutional – that led to the current system of mass imprisonment. The book examines the causes and impacts of mass incarceration on both the political and criminal justice systems. With accessible language and straightforward statistical analysis, former prosecutor turned law professor Jeffrey Bellin provides a formula for reform to return to the low incarceration rates that characterized the United States prior to the 1970s.

Today’s high recidivism rates, combined with the rising costs of jails and prisons, are increasingly seen as problems that must be addressed on both moral and financial grounds. Research on prison and jail reentry typically focuses on barriers stemming from employment, housing, mental health, and substance abuse issues from the perspective of offenders returning to urban areas. This book explores the largely neglected topic of the specific challenges inmates experience when leaving jail and returning to rural areas. Rural Jail Reentry provides a thorough background and theoretical framework on reentry issues and rural crime patterns, and identifies perceptions of the most significant challenges to jail reentry in rural areas. Utilizing three robust samples—current inmates, probation and parole officers, and treatment staff—Ward examines what each group considers to be the most impactful factors surrounding rural jail re-entry. A springboard for future research and policy discussions, this book will be of interest to international researchers and practitioners interested in the topic of rural reentry, as well as graduate and upper-level undergraduate students concerned with contemporary issues in corrections, community-based corrections, critical issues in criminal justice, and criminal justice policy.

Click ′Additional Materials′ for downloadable samples The two-volume Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities aims to provide a critical overview of penal institutions within a historical and contemporary framework. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, a fact that has caused lawmakers, advocates, and legal professionals to rethink punishment policies as well as develop new policies on prisoner education and rehabilitation. Issues of race, gender, and class are fully integrated throughout in order to demonstrate the complexity of the implementation and intended results of incarceration. The Encyclopedia contains biographies, articles describing important legal statutes, and detailed and authoritative descriptions of the major prisons in the United States. Comparative data and examples are employed to analyze the American system within an international context. The Encyclopedia′s 400 entries are all written by recognized authorities. The appendix contains a comprehensive listing of every federal prison in the U.S., complete with facility details and service information. Key Themes Juvenile Justice Labor Prison Architecture Prison Populations Prison Reform Privatization Race, Gender, Class Security and Classification Sentencing Policy and Laws Staff Theories of Punishment Treatment Programs Editorial Board Stephanie Bush-Baskette, National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) Jeanne Flavin, Fordham University Esther Heffernan, Edgewood College Jim Thomas, Northern Illinois University