I am delighted and excited to introduce this important and much needed book about the experiences of imprisonment for people convicted of sexual offences written by international experts. Ministry of Justice data indicates that the number of people imprisoned for sexual offences in England and Wales has grown from 4 per cent of (a much smaller) prison population in 1981 to 18 per cent in recent years. There are a number of reasons for this increase, not least a greater awareness and intolerance of sexual crime, an increase in internet-related offences and the prosecution of historic sexual offences. People imprisoned for sexual offences are often vulnerable and set apart from the wider prison population often as a result of the abhorrence and fear felt by both staff and other prisoners to the crimes they have committed. This particular area of work has been a consistent feature of much of my professional life; this text provides a welcome contribution to the development of knowledge on the subject using evidence from around the world.