In preparation for the conference ―Opening Up a Closed World: What Constitutes Effective Prison Oversight?,‖ held at the University of Texas in 2006, graduate students in my seminar on ―Prisons and Human Rights‖ embarked on a major group effort to compile and review the literature dealing with independent oversight of prisons and to develop an annotated bibliography of this material.

This state-by-state inventory of independent oversight mechanisms for correctional institutions was initiated to provide a baseline understanding about the extent of such oversight in the United States. This project was a monumental undertaking as it involved identification and analysis of prison and jail oversight mechanisms in all 50 states and the federal system. This information has never been compiled previously.