In 1777, John Howard, the pre-eminent prison reformer of his generation, published The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, an indictment of the cruelty of prison life and a blueprint for radical change. Over two centuries later Michael Jackson, Queen’s Counsel, law professor and human rights advocate, gives us Justice behind the Walls, a compelling, compassionate and harrowing account of the state of justice in Canadian prisons. Weaving together the threads of correctional history, landmark court decisions, the enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, penal philosophy and legislative change, Justice behind the Walls describes the reality of reform against the backdrop of Jackson’s years of observation of disciplinary hearings and segregation review boards in federal security penitentiaries and his hundreds of hours of interviews with wardens, correctional staff and prisoners. At a time when the issue of human rights in prison is dangerously close to being eclipsed by rising waves of fear about public safety, Justice behind the Walls takes us beyond the stereotypes of the keeper and the kept. Based upon the reality rather than the mirage of reform, Jackson’s book brings to the agenda of public and legal debate a remedial toolbox with the potential to enhance Canada’s claim as an international model for a just society.