Four Prison Service goals are to keep untried prisoners in custody before trial, to keep sentenced prisoners in custody for their sentence duration, to provide prisoners with an appropriate range of services consistent with custody, and to enable prisoners to retain links with the community and prepare them for return to the community. As of 1986, England's female prison population represented less than 4 percent of the total prison population of 46,800. About 75 percent of female offenders had been sentenced. Nearly all the rest were untried, but a small number were either convicted awaiting sentence, or were noncriminal prisoners (for example, held under immigration legislation or in contempt of court). The number of female young adult offenders sentenced to over 4 years increased from 1976 to 1986. Over 50 percent of adult women were sentenced to immediate imprisonment because of theft, fraud, and forgery offenses. From 1976 to 1986, there was more than a five-fold increase in the number of females imprisoned for drug offenses. Young female offenders committing personal violence, burglary, and robbery offenses represented a larger proportion of the female prison population than adult women offenders. A large proportion of imprisoned females in 1986 had no or few previous convictions. During the 1976-1986 decade, the number of untried prisoners more than doubled; this was attributed to the increased length of time women spent in custody awaiting trial. A policy discussion on female prisoner management covers prison organizational and accommodation strategies, prison activities and services, life sentence prisoners, mentally ill female prisoners, and female prisoners who have children. 6 references, 7 tables, 3 figures.