A significant proportion of Australian female inmates are drug addicts and women who have experienced violence as children and/or as adults. The three rules, “Don’t talk,” “Don’t trust,” and “Don’t feel” are dominant rules in households characterized by addiction, abuse, or other manifestations of dysfunction and are present within the prison institutional culture and structure. The female prison population in Australia is relatively small. As a result, specific needs are ignored and many women are placed inappropriately in maximum-security facilities with limited programs for employment, education, and drug or violence issues. The study looks at comparative results from empirical research conducted in the early 1990s with recent data suggesting that although there have been some positive steps implemented, they have not greatly affected the dysfunctional women’s prison culture. The cycle of addiction and dysfunction is reproduced within the prison and can contribute to the woman’s return to drug use and violence on the outside, as well as perpetuating the cycle across generations. References