This chapter tells the story of Bill vanden Heuvel's work with the New York City prison system. Following riots in the Tombs detention center and a rash of suicides in late 1970, Mayor John Lindsay asked vanden Heuvel to serve as Chair of the Board of Correction, a post he held for three years. During that time, he made numerous proposals to improve conditions in the New York City prison system, developing novel approaches to health care, education, training and living conditions. His legal training gave him an eye for spotting inequities in bail and sentencing procedures, and he worked closely with advocates both inside and outside the prisons to create a system that could be remedial as well as punitive. The chapter includes his speech at a service of concern after deadly riots broke out at Attica State Prison in September 1971. His ideas for improving media coverage of the prisons are presented in his article "The Press and the Prisons," first published in June 1972.