A random sample of active inmates was chosen using an SPSS program, and questionnaires were sent to 400 inmates whose names were generated by that process. Slightly more than half (202) of this sample returned completed questionnaires; 51 of these respondents indicated that they had been abused as children. These inmates were more likely to be white, male, and younger than the larger inmate population: the mean age of the abused inmate was 26.9 years, as compared to 29.5 for all respondents. Further, more than twice as many respondents reported abuse by the father only as reported abuse by the mother only, and twice as many reported abuse by the father only as reported abuse by both parents. Results of a cross-matching of data contained within the Department of Corrections' automated data systems indicated that 240 of the total population of 9,131 inmates in Virginia's State prisons were charged with or suspected of child abuse, representing 2.7 percent of the confined population. These data reveal that the incidence of child abusers among inmates is no greater than it is among the population at large. Further, the data in this study were determined to have an error rate of .06 at the 95-percent confidence level. Three tables and four references are included.