Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art (Routledge International Handbooks Series) J.I. Ross (Ed.). London and New York: Routledge (2016) 492pp. £185/$235 (print); £41.99/$57.95 (e‐book) ISBN 9781138792937 (print hb); ISBN 9781315761664 (e‐book)

Between May 2013 and November 2014, criminologist Tom Vander Beken visited 15 prisons in six European countries.This book (which first appeared in Dutch in 2015) recounts his experiences.As the subtitle indicates, Vander Beken drew inspiration from John Howard's celebrated tours of European penal establishments in the 1770s and 1780s, and, like him, chose to present his findings in the first person, 'complete with my personal experiences, hesitations, doubts and feelings as they progressed'; in short, 'with as great a degree of honesty and transparency as possible' (Prologue, pp.x-xi).With one exception (more on which presently), the author followed literally 'in the footsteps of John Howard', at least in so far as he visited prisons in countries where the 18th-Century prison reformer had preceded him, and significantly he begins his tour in the UK, in Bedford, where Howard had officiated as county sheriff in the years 1773-4.It was this post -generally seen by its occupants in the late 18th Century as, above all, a ceremonial one -that had sparked Howard's interest in prison management and led him to investigate for himself, first conditions in the local county gaol, and then to widen his researches to other gaols, bridewells, and houses of correction in Britain, and later overseas.Four years and more than 500 prison inspections later, Howard (1777) interrupted his programme of visiting to prepare his influential book, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales: With Preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons.Other volumes and updated editions of The State of the Prisons would follow.The Role of Prison in Europe devotes its six main chapters, respectively, to visits to prisons in the UK, Norway, Holland, France, Italy, and Azerbaijan (the latter standing in for the Crimea, where Howard died in 1790, having fallen ill after visiting the military hospitals of Kherson).The author makes clear that the parallel with Howard's visits should not be taken too far.Many of the innumerable prisons visited by his predecessor (sometimes on numerous occasions) are no longer in existence or have been transformed beyond recognition.In addition, it was clearly impossible to replicate Howard's method of simply turning up alone and unannounced at the prison gates, requesting to be admitted.Each of the chapters, therefore, presents to readers the local specialists who served as Vander Beken's guides and dealt with the sometimes formidable paperwork needed to gain access to Europe's 21st-Century prisons.The author argues convincingly, however, that his project shares with Howard's a focus on empirical observation: a determination to see prisons with his own eyes before forming a judgment on them; on 'drawing . . .conclusions on the spot and not just going by what the regulations or other documents suggested' (Prologue, p.vii).The book, then, is part travelogue, part study in comparative penal policy, with the author switching skilfully between the two; between, on the one hand, the practical details of his journeys, his choice of guides and his encounters with the various prison administrations, prison buildings and prisoners, and, on the other, a broader discussion of each country's penal history and policy.The latter makes insightful reference to the 127

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