The facility's forbidding exterior is in stark contrast to its almost pleasant interior. Most of the women here are serving time for theft, some for drug trafficking or profiteering in hard currency, and others for murder. The inmates range in age from 18 to 70 years old. Since work is seen as an essential part of rehabilitation, all of the inmates are given jobs. Working inmates receive wages and have the costs of their food and clothing deducted from their earnings. The facility has its own vocational and secondary school, which all inmates under the age of 40 must attend if they do not have a high school diploma. Job counseling begins 3 months before the end of an inmate's term. Recidivism among long-term inmates is high. Among the inmate population, pregnant women and mothers of infants are a privileged group. Inmate mothers retain their parental rights and can see their children daily until they are two years old, when they are transferred to a child-care center outside the reformatory. In recent years fewer and fewer women have been sentenced to jail. One result is a more than 50 percent decrease in the female inmate population, which continues to shrink.