This book is a first-rate contribution to Canadian legal scholarship and is a compelling but not sensationalized account of life behind bars in Canada. Jackson combines a sense of history with thorough legal scholarship and deep concern for humanity in this unique and insightful book. He makes masterful use of his personal interviews with prisoners who have been subjected to solitary confinement to infuse the book with a subdued sorrow about man's inhumanity to man. He successfully walks the fine line between identifying with the plight of the victims of solitary confinement and presenting an objective and scholarly account of the legal problems implicit in the process.