In 1790 a group of Quakers began an experiment in penology with noble aims but with mixed results. They wished to create a prison system that would engage in "such degrees and modes of punishment ... as may . . . become the means of restoring our fellow creatures to virtue and happiness." Certainly, few would disagree with the concept of making an offender serve his debt to society and at the same time succeed in turning him into a useful member of society. Other Americans had their own ideas about their prison stays, and for the most part during the ensuing two hundred years have not conformed to this Quaker ideal. Neither of course have our prisons. Prisons do punish offenders by depriving them of their rights and their dignity, but by doing so, appear to have turned many inmates into more-hardened criminals. Throughout the 1970s...