ABSTRACT
Never has there been a time when the prison was not subject to outside inspection. From the outset, penological commissions, charitable associations, and various social critics noted the promise of the prison, but they also acknowledged the brutality of institutional conditions and the failure of different confinement strategies (e.g., rules of silence, separation) to reform or deter offenders. In the twentieth century, external scrutiny gained momentum, with academics lending a critical new voice through empirical and theoretical analyses. These scholarly investigations documented the capacity of the prison to foster deviant norms and values, inflict psychological damage upon its inmates, and ultimately undermine rehabilitation efforts.
