Paula walked out of Cornton Vale two years ago. Opening the prison gates she should have felt elated but all there was to welcome her and her one-year-old son was a cold wind and a bus ticket.

This was the fourth time she had been released from Scotland's only all-female prison - the same number of times she has gone through labour. Neither was easy.

"You come out to absolutely nothing, no support - nothing," she said. "It's terrifying walking out of those prison gates and I had my new baby son with me as well. The lassies come out to nothing and were having to go straight into hostels. The self-harming girls were just left at the door.

"Everybody says they will never go back but they all do. I don't think the prison system works because everybody ends up back there again. If there's no-one there to help make things different and you've got nowhere to live - how can you make it different?"

A new study, entitled What Life After Prison, has found that most female prisoners share Paula's views.

The report, which reveals women are leaving prison with insufficient help to prevent them returning to a life of crime, will be launched today at Stirling University.

The women involved in the study are all mothers but many have lost custody of their children and most of them have mental health and drug addiction problems.

One in three women questioned had already been inside more than three times. Only four women said their experience of being supported on release was "good". Some will argue that prisoners, even female ones, should be shown little sympathy, however, without additional support the report says they are also more likely to commit further crimes.

Many of the 107 women interviewed said they need far more support - including someone to meet them - when they leave the prison gates.

The report which was conducted by Circle, a charity which works with children and families affected by drug misuse, states: "Cornton Vale had become a safe haven from their chaotic and risk-taking lives, or difficulties with their children. It provided a protective environment with staff who looked out' for them. Yet despite desires to start again' these women often ended up in a revolving door situation.

"The experiences of those who had been released into the community before was that support was generally lacking, women saying they had no idea where to get help, who to ask or where to go. They had an impression that things would be arranged or sorted out for them but the reality was they had to manage for themselves and a significant number found it really difficult."

Most women leave Scotland's all-female jail with no home to go to and, depending on their age, just £47 and a travelcard.

The prison service offers access to throughcare services, including housing, Jobcentre Plus, social work and other agencies before prisoners are released but most of the women in the study said they had not received such help.

Dr Andrew McClellan, the chief inspector of prisons, concluded in a recent report that, of the inmates, 98% had drug addiction problems, 80% had mental health problems and 75% had a history of abuse and very poor physical health.

Many of them are still being imprisoned for minor offences. In 2004-5, more than 400 women were sent to prison for failing to pay a fine. A 1998 government report recommended the female prison population be halved to 100 inmates. Currently there are 375.

Paula was sent to prison twice for fine defaulting. Her other two trips were short sentences for what she refers to as "minor crimes".

She has not been back for two years and has no intention of leaving her children again. Her son was six weeks old when she was last sentenced. A month later he joined her in the prison.

Despite the best efforts of staff she said it is not a place to bring up children and that, coupled with support she now receives from Circle, is, she believes, enough to ensure she never goes back.

Names have been changed to protect identities.