The author's first argument is that prisons are first and foremost committed to secure confinement, which inevitably undermines any rehabilitative functions the prison regime attempts. If prison is the punishment for violations of conditions for community supervision, then such supervision is also destined to fail. The authors' second argument is that a main reason for the rapid increase in the female prison population in many countries is the governmental claims that modern prisons have the resources, personnel, and programs that can reform criminal behavior. The authors' third argument is that any correctional regimen that aims to combine both punishment and rehabilitation is destined to fail in achieving its rehabilitative goals. They advocate challenging such a policy. They note that in England and Wales as well as in Scotland, research has found that increased enforcement of the conditions of community sentences during the 1990s led to increased levels of violations, thus contributing to the increase in the prison populations over that period. These empirical studies also show that women housed in prisons for ever longer periods are not rehabilitated in prison. The European Women Prisoners' Reintegration research found that the social options of all women inmates are most likely to be further limited due to their imprisonment, since employment and education in the community are disrupted, health is impaired, and self-esteem further deteriorates. 5 notes and 45 references