The main problems (as seen by the new prison authorities) are security issues and not the improvement of facilities for rehabilitation. This paper deals with the problems of overtaking and integrating the prison staff of the former GDR and of establishing living conditions for the prisoners which meet the standards set by the West German Prison Act of 1977. The second part of the article deals with disparities in the development of prison regimes in comparison with the old federal states. Similar disparities can be observed in the new federal states, partly as a result of the West German export of prison administrators. Finally, proposals are made for East and West German prison reform. The first section of the article presents, in the author's words, Horror Images of the East and Incomplete Reform in the West. He reviews opportunities for a new penal policy; indicators of structural problems; open prisons; disciplining prisoners, penal mentalities, and conflict management. Table, figures, references