Data sources are the Annual Statistical Reports of the Texas Department of Corrections and computerized data on all prison admissions, the on-hand population, and releases from custody. Data show that female admissions have increased 72.3 percent between 1984 and 1987. Females incarcerated in 1987 had committed more drug offenses, were slightly older, received longer sentences, and had fewer previous incarcerations than females admitted in 1984. Most of the females imprisoned in 1987 had committed violent offenses, had extensive criminal histories, and had longer sentences than those imprisoned in 1984. In 1987, for every female admitted to prison, one female had to be released. From 1984 to 1987 there has been a 34-percent decrease in the average time served by female offenders. Prison capacity will be even more severely impacted when the current backlog of females awaiting transfer from county jails is included in the regular flow of female admissions and when the court order requiring all medium and close custody inmates to be housed in cells is met. Crowding could be relieved by providing intermediate sanctions instead of prison for some of the less serious offenders currently imprisoned. 13 tables