In response to growing public interest in the increasing prison population and the deteriorating conditions of the prisons, here is a comprehensive text, suggesting a major shake-up of the legal and prison systems.

For the past few years prisons have attracted much media attention, due to substantial increases in the prison population and the deteriorating conditions in which prisoners are held. In addition, there has been industrial action by prison officers and a series of disturbances and riots by prisoners. Following the riot at Strangeways prison in Manchester in 1990 Lord Justice Woolf was called to conduct an inquiry into the riots and their causes. Prisons After Woolf serves as a basic source of information on prison issues and reviews them in the light of the Woolf proposals. In so doing, its contributors, drawn from all areas of the legal and prison system, present an important broad perspective on the major questions in penology today.

`... a useful reference point ...' - Probation Journal

`... informative and thought-provoking ... is likely to prove as influential in some respects as the Report itself.' - The Magistrate