When you think of prostitution.. you may conjur up images of Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman," but the real truth is far less romantic. These women take their lives into their hands everyday.

Photojournalist Tyler Trantham and Heather Mills spent nearly six hours on the streets in Wichita Falls talking to current and former prostitutes, many of whom are homeless and most wouldn't go on camera. One lesson we learned is prostitution is not a victim-less crime. It destroys families and futures.

It's been called the oldest profession in the world but if you ask the women of the night it's more of a servitude an in-escapable lifestyle.

"I've been raped, ran over," said Jenkins.

Officers with the wichita falls police department's organized criminal activity division say for the most part... These women are selling sex.. For drug money. The price ranges from $5.00 for oral sex to hundreds of dollars.

"The money they try to give you out here aint worth it." Officers say it depends on how desperate each becomes and how badly she needs her next fix. And the drug of choice in Wichita Falls crack cocaine and meth. "We know for sure sometimes they're coming back to buy more dope every 20 to 30 minutes," said Snyder.

"It's the shortest high there is."

A high that keeps these women on the streets working near the main boulevards and their drug connection.

 "Older boulevards that used to be the Jewell of the city, and ovetime have become run down areas," said SAPD Sgt. Joe Snyder.

East Scott Street, Old Iowa Park Road and Sheppard Access Road are the hot spots for prostitution. Bob Green owns the La Posada Apartments on East Scott Street. He says prostitution is a big problem in the area. To help enforce his drug and prostitution-free policy. His manager routinely inspects the property -- day and night.

"He catches them regularly." Green says being visible is his best defense against drugs and prostitution. "A girl be over here wanting to sit on this flower bed or wanting to come inside the place and I'll tell them, 'No, we don't allow prostitutes here,'" said Green.

He says he's asked neighboring businesses to change their policies as well  hoping to clean up the street. But says he sees the same people over and over again. Leah Jenkins is 37-years-old and just got out of a 30-day rehabilitation program for an addiction to crack cocaine. She says she began selling sex for money when she was 23.

"The first experience that made me get into what I get into, is because I was molested at age 13 by my uncle."

She says she's out of the business now. "You gotta put too much effort in, to not get caught," said Jenkins.But.. Understands why women prostitute themselves.

She says it's addiction to drugs. And that's why she had to get out. "I had to do something because if I had waited on them, I might have died," said Jenkins.

"As you watch them, kind of like a flower when it blooms, it starts wilting away. And you see them at about three months and they're a total different person," said Green.

"Most of the ones you've seen here, we've been seeing for years and years." Sargent Snyder says the problem is much better than a decade ago something he attributes to the increased risk of being arrested and publicly embarrassed.

"We cannot complain about the police department because they really work overtime." And as we drove off... A Wichita Falls Police Department squad car was watching over the neighborhood.