The US has experienced an estimated 500% increase in incarceration rates from the 1980’s to present day; an upsurge that has disproportionately affected women’s incarceration rates (up 700% over the same time period) (Carson and Anderson 2016). Moreover, the average sentence length increased despite the fact that there is no marked increase in violent crime. Women serving long sentences may experience unique adjustment issues that are either absent from, or operate differently in, men’s prison populations and among women who are serving shorter sentences. With little research regarding how women adjust to an extended prison stay, this research contributes to the understanding of the complexity of adjustment for life-sentenced women.