diff --git a/java/org/apache/catalina/session/JDBCStore.java b/java/org/apache/catalina/session/JDBCStore.java
index 7580c2b..a9d0cc4 100644
--- a/java/org/apache/catalina/session/JDBCStore.java
+++ b/java/org/apache/catalina/session/JDBCStore.java
@@ -874,11 +874,13 @@ public class JDBCStore extends StoreBase {
      * @return <code>Connection</code> if the connection succeeded
      */
     protected Connection getConnection() {
+        Connection _conn = null;
         try {
-            if (dbConnection == null || dbConnection.isClosed()) {
+            _conn = open();
+            if (_conn == null || _conn.isClosed()) {
                 manager.getContainer().getLogger().info(sm.getString(getStoreName() + ".checkConnectionDBClosed"));
-                open();
-                if (dbConnection == null || dbConnection.isClosed()) {
+                _conn = open();
+                if (_conn == null || _conn.isClosed()) {
                     manager.getContainer().getLogger().info(sm.getString(getStoreName() + ".checkConnectionDBReOpenFail"));
                 }
             }
@@ -887,7 +889,7 @@ public class JDBCStore extends StoreBase {
                     ex.toString()));
         }
 
-        return dbConnection;
+        return _conn;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -916,8 +918,8 @@ public class JDBCStore extends StoreBase {
         }
         
         if (dataSource != null) {
-            dbConnection = dataSource.getConnection();
-            return dbConnection;
+            Connection _conn = dataSource.getConnection();
+            return _conn;
         }
 
         // Instantiate our database driver if necessary
@@ -1014,13 +1016,15 @@ public class JDBCStore extends StoreBase {
     }
 
     /**
-     * Release the connection, not needed here since the
-     * connection is not associated with a connection pool.
+     * Release the connection, if it
+     * is associated with a connection pool.
      *
      * @param conn The connection to be released
      */
     protected void release(Connection conn) {
-        // NOOP
+        if (dataSource != null) {
+            close(conn); 
+        }
     }
 
     /**
@@ -1034,7 +1038,13 @@ public class JDBCStore extends StoreBase {
     protected synchronized void startInternal() throws LifecycleException {
 
         // Open connection to the database
-        this.dbConnection = getConnection();
+        Connection _conn = getConnection();
+        if (dataSource != null) {
+            // if connection was created by a dataSource, we will release it
+            close(_conn);
+        } else {
+            this.dbConnection = _conn;
+        }
         
         super.startInternal();
     }
diff --git a/java/org/apache/catalina/session/LocalStrings.properties b/java/org/apache/catalina/session/LocalStrings.properties
index b16f942..f7f6a6d 100644
--- a/java/org/apache/catalina/session/LocalStrings.properties
+++ b/java/org/apache/catalina/session/LocalStrings.properties
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ JDBCStore.checkConnectionDBClosed=The database connection is null or was found t
 JDBCStore.checkConnectionDBReOpenFail=The re-open on the database failed. The database could be down.
 JDBCStore.checkConnectionSQLException=A SQL exception occurred {0}
 JDBCStore.checkConnectionClassNotFoundException=JDBC driver class not found {0}
-JDBCStore.wrongDataSource=Can't open JNDI DataSource [{0}]
+JDBCStore.wrongDataSource=Can not open JNDI DataSource [{0}]
 JDBCStore.missingDataSourceName=No valid JNDI name was given.
 managerBase.createRandom=Created random number generator for session ID generation in {0}ms.
 managerBase.createSession.ise=createSession: Too many active sessions
diff --git a/webapps/docs/config/manager.xml b/webapps/docs/config/manager.xml
index f5b6bdc..2b9835e 100644
--- a/webapps/docs/config/manager.xml
+++ b/webapps/docs/config/manager.xml
@@ -360,7 +360,10 @@
       <p>Name of the JNDI resource for a JDBC DataSource-factory. If this option
       is given and a valid JDBC resource can be found, it will be used and any
       direct configuration of a JDBC connection via <code>connectionURL</code>
-      and <code>driverName</code> will be ignored.</p>
+      and <code>driverName</code> will be ignored. Since this code uses prepared
+      statements, you might want to configure pooled prepared statements as
+      shown in <a href="../jndi-resources-howto.html">the JNDI resources
+      HOW-TO</a>.</p>
     </attribute>
 
     <attribute name="driverName" required="true">