title: Forms of Constraint: A HISTORY OF PRISON ARCHITECTURE
author: Norman Johnston
description: "Norman Johnston knows more about the history of prisons and prison architecture than anyone in the world. Forms of Constraint is a superb piece of scholarship, fascinating for laypersons and extraordinarily functional for architects and historians of penology. There is nothing like it anywhere else." -- Marvin E. Wolfgang
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  [Contents](067131985X_toc.htm)
  
  # **CHAPTER FORTY-SIX**
  
  "I don't think I understand your reasoning, Sir." Lieutenant Jasco shook his
  head and gestured around the sumptuous quarters the officers had been given.
  "They certainly seem friendly enough."
  
  "So does a spider, Lieutenant," Pahner replied. "Right before it eats a fly."
  
  The room was paneled in blond wood, the pale grain cut to expose abstract
  swirls. The floor was covered in cushions a shade or two darker than the wood,
  most of them piled to one side, and the single window revealed a breathtaking
  view of the city and the river, with a glimpse of Pasule and the vast stretch
  of cultivated land beyond.
  
  All in all, it was a pleasant place. Now if they could just decide whether or
  not it was a prison.
  
  "We've been dealing with Mardukans for a while now," Roger said. "They're not
  the gentlest people in the galaxy, but they have more regard for life than we
  saw this morning."
  