This ethnographic study of deinstitutionalization explores the lives of women living in a locked ward within an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Johnson describes in rich and carefully-observed detail the lives of the women in the institution largely through their own stories and experiences. The closure of this institution gave her a unique opportunity to closely examine the impact of deinstitutionalization on these women, and the book explores the paradoxical discourse of rights and management that is part of this process.