Field work carried out in three women's prisons in England involved interviews with 200 prisoners, before and after release. Women in the sample were broadly typical of female prisoners elsewhere; they were relatively young, unsophisticated in criminal terms, and primarily in prison for property offenses. About 25 percent of the women were classified as high drug users, that is, regular users of drugs other than marijuana. The three prisons had five strategies for addressing the needs of women: (1) personal officer scheme to link one prison officer with one inmate; (2) sentence planning to ensure that inmate time was put to good use; (3) shared work to meet welfare and social needs of inmates; (4) contact with women's prison-based probation officers; and (5) contact with women's home-based probation officers. Women expressed concerns about confidentiality and prison officer availability and commitment. Only a few women felt they learned any skills while in prison, and few left prisons with new work skills. Sentence length affected the amount of release planning activities within prisons. The authors emphasize the need to proactively target women's needs in the prison setting so they do not return to the community in a worse situation than when they entered prison. 1 reference and 18 notes