The demise of corporal punishment and the rise of incarceration are defining features of control in modern states. This subject provides an historical and sociological examination of the models, practices and justifications for punishment and incarceration. It begins with an overview of early liberal notions of the social contract, the modern movement away from corporal punishment towards incarceration, and a subsequent welfare oriented emphasis on treatment, reform and rehabilitation. Following from this, the subject explores the development of probation and parole systems, decarceration, community corrections, mass imprisonment, and the contemporary control of risk and 'dangerous' populations. These themes are considered through an intersectional analysis of structural factors such as age, gender, sexuality, social class, racial/ethnic identity and the impact of imprisonment and corrections on different individuals and groups. This subject pays particular attention to the over-representation of Indigenous populations in Australian prisons.