The conclusion draws together the main themes from the book as a whole. It highlights the multitude of experiences behind bars, gendered differences in the structure and experiences of prisons, and changes in practice and policies over time. It emphasises women’s agency and survival strategies both during incarceration and on the outside. This conclusion also draws attention to the insights offered on women’s relationships with each other and with their wider families and their roles as mothers, daughters, sisters and wives or partners. The conclusion also reminds us that women established and maintained positive and negative relationships with the staff charged to manage them.