Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Division of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Forensic Studies, and a Fellow of the Center for International and Comparative Law, at the University of Baltimore. He is the author of thirteen books most recently Special Problems in Corrections (Prentice Hall, 2007). During the 1980's, Ross worked almost four years in a correctional facility. In 2005-2006 he was a member of the Prisoner/Prisoner Advocate Liaison Group for the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine committee examining ethics and research with prisoners. His website is jeffreyianross.com.

Stephen C. Richards, Ph.D., is a professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. In 1983, he was convicted of conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Richards was sentenced to 9 years and served time in 9 federal prisons. Released from federal prison in 1987, he completed his M.A.

in sociology (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1989) and Ph.D. in Sociology (Iowa State University, 1992). His work has appeared in numerous academic journals. Jeffrey Ian Ross and Stephen C. Richards are also the authors of Behind Bars (Alpha/Penguin, 2002) and Convict Criminology (Wadsworth, 2003).