Women's share of the Nation's prison population, measured in either absolute or relative terms, has never been higher. A building "binge" for women's prisons is a consequence. An examination of the pattern of women's crimes shows that the dramatic increase in women's imprisonment cannot be due to radical changes in the volume and character of women's crime. Instead, recent figures suggest that the "war on drugs" has become a war on women, as it has contributed to the explosion in women's prison populations; one out of three women in U.S. prisons in 1991 was doing time for drug offenses (up from 1 in 10 in 1979). Over one-third of the women imprisoned for drug offenses committed only possession offenses. Nearly 30 percent of the women in State prisons are there for property offenses. In California, one woman in four is incarcerated for either simple drug possession or petty theft with a prior conviction. Most female offenders are poor, undereducated, unskilled victims of past physical or sexual abuse and are single mothers of at least two children. They enter the criminal justice system with a host of unique medical, psychological, and financial problems. This profile suggests that women may be better served in the community due to the decreased seriousness of their crimes and the treatable antecedents to their criminality. There is a clear need for the Federal Government to convene a high-level task force on women in prison to provide national leadership on the specific needs of women in prison. This task force must provide the leadership necessary to make appropriate changes in law enforcement practices, judicial decisionmaking, and legislative mandatory sentencing guidelines that have led to the increase in the number of women imprisoned for minor, nonviolent offenses. 7 notes and 18 references