Data were collected as part of a study of whether drug use at arrest was associated with greater risk for pretrial arrest or failure-to-appear among arrestees in Manhattan. The major source of data was structured interviews with 212 females processed in the Manhattan Central Booking Facility between October 1984 and May 1985. The analyses reported in this article include only the 164 females interviewed in 1984 who also provided a urine specimen. The study results confirm and extend the problem behaviors and drug abuse among female arrestees reported by others. The detailed descriptive life-history information suggests that these females were prone to numerous behavioral and psychological problems in addition to their drug abuse and prostitution. The majority of the arrestees in the sample were moderately transient high school dropouts and came from broken homes. Almost two-thirds of the arrestees had children, and over one-half had children aged 16 or younger. The study shows considerable drug abuse and prostitution in female arrestees. Some females began prostitution after initiating the use of heroin or cocaine, and others began drug use after prostitution. Regardless of which began first, the subject reported that the need to support their drug habits was an important factor keeping them in prostitution. The authors identify some of the difficulties in getting and retaining female arrestees in drug treatment and suggest intervention on behalf of the children of female arrestees. 6 tables and 22 references