In presenting a psychiatrist's view of women in prison, the book emphasizes the provision of psychiatric services and estimates the number of female prisoners in England and Wales who have psychiatric problems. The book describes different types of psychiatric disorders and attempts to explain the link between psychiatric disorders and offending. Consideration is paid to the gender politics of female imprisonment, the role of psychiatrists in prisons, and the medical model and psychiatric treatment. Book chapters specifically examine previous surveys of women in prison, psychiatric profiles of female prisoners, violence by women in prison, the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among female inmates (psychoses, personality disorders, neurotic disorders, and substance abuse), and factors related to why mentally disordered women receive prison sentences. References, tables, and figures