One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter presents a series of life studies of children in jail, along with a brief discussion of prison reform. The purpose of the life studies is to allow jailed children or children who have been in jail to speak for themselves of the conditions of jail and the experience of being incarcerated. The studies include children who have been tried and sentenced to jail, as well as children held in detention centers awaiting trial. One of the studies is of a girl who was held illegally in an adult prison. Among the many topics discussed by the children are medical treatment, the lack of educational facilities, the changing nature of their relationship with their parents, the shame and fright of imprisonment, and the physical and psychological effects of being in jail. (Author/MLF)