Even though Spain has one of the highest rates for the incarceration of women in Europe (9 percent), women’s imprisonment is one of the most neglected subjects of academic study and research in Spain. The official denial or ignorance of the special requirements of female prisoners in Spain is a continuing issue in Spanish prisons. This article contributes cross-national evidence from Spain to support the claim of researchers in other countries that the needs of women in prison are different than those of men. The article is divided into four main parts which cover the increase of the female prison population in Spain since the 1980s, the differences in men’s and women’s prisons and male and female prisoners’ needs, profiles of women in prison in Spain, and myths and motherhood. The article concludes with a discussion on the specific political and cultural conditions which have shaped Spanish prisons for women, and indicates that in Spain cultural stereotypes of women prisoners have been so incorporated into women’s penitentiary regimes that, when they go to prison, poor women who have already been excluded from society are excluded still further. References