In less than two decades, the number of women imprisoned in the United States tripled. In 1996 over 127,000 women were incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons. The puzzling fact is that crime rates among women have not increased as rapidly as the rates of imprisonment for women. If California's experience is an example, it is a misguided "war on drugs" and the accompanying mandatory sentencing for even the most minor drug offense that accounts for the increasing number of women in jails and prisons. Other contributing factors are more severe and punitive responses to drug offenses and the lack of viable treatment and alternative community sanctions for women. In its various forms, female criminality is based on the need for women, excluded from conventional institutions and economic progress, to survive under conditions which they do not have the power or resources to change. It may be that the increasing number of women in prison is a measure of society's failure to care for the needs of women and children who live outside the middle-class protection afforded by patriarchy. In discussing the prison conditions of women, this chapter considers the conditioning of prison life, the learning of prison codes, dealing with family relationships inside and outside prison, and negotiating the dynamics of inmate and staff interactions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the program and treatment needs of women in prison, notably community interventions, economic self-sufficiency, substance-abuse treatment, and family and personal issues. 35 references and 4 discussion questions