"Youth in Prison" tells the story of youths in a "model" juvenile prison program--a program created after a class action lawsuit for inhumane and illegal practices. It captures the lives of these youths inside and outside of prison: from drugs, gangs, and criminal behavior to the realities of families, schools, and neighborhoods. Drawing on experience that encompasses twenty years of juvenile justice research and policy analysis, the authors spent two years scrutinizing the prison's attempts to combine accountability and treatment for youths with protection for the public. Situating these within the larger social and political context, the authors have fashioned a book about all of us: those kept, those charged with their keeping, and the society that condones and demands this imprisonment.