The Conclusion reviews the key themes of the book and relates it to the larger literature and our current context. It reviews the lessons Eastern offers for nineteenth-century prison history, for the analysis of prison administration more generally, and for contemporary punishment. Importantly, this chapter relates the importance of recognition for early nineteenth-century penal reformers and prison administrators to the anxiety of penal reform. The chapter closes by contrasting the Pennsylvania System with the current punitive climate and asking what lessons its failure to spread beyond Pennsylvania provide for those seeking penal change.