A vivid look at the end of the line in the American legal system, where the rule of law gives way to the "correctional process". "Prisons: Houses of Darkness" reveals the astonishing lawlessness by which sentencing judges, prison authorities, and parole boards actually operate. It provides an eye-opening history of prisons and an overview of daily prison routine from Attica to Soledad-- much of it related in the inmates' own words-- which shatters the myth of rehabilitation and exposes the injustices of prison life. This is an urgent call for reform, a powerful case for applying the rule of law to the American way of punishment.