Boot Camp Incarceration Essay Research Paper With

Boot Camp Incarceration Essay, Research Paper

With the ever rising prison population in this country, something has to be done rehabilitate criminals rather than just lock them up. Many feel that the “new” prisons, boot camps are the answer (Champion 1990). I will give a brief overview of boot camp institutions, specifically, about the operation and structure of these, the cost involved with both juvenile and adult facilities, and how effective they really are with regard to recidivism.

Boot camps or shock incarceration programs, as they are also called, vary greatly around the country. At the start of 1997, 54 adult boot camp facilities operated in 34 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, with a total of 7,250 inmates. Most include physical training, hard labor, military drills and ceremonies, and summary punishment (immediate punishments like pushups for disciplinary infractions). Many feel that the rigid discipline of a boot camp promotes positive behavior (Mackenzie and Hebert).

Boot camp programs have the potential to reduce institutional crowding and costs, provided they are large enough. This assumes they target offenders who would otherwise have served a longer sentence in another institution, and keep enough participants from returning to correctional facilities. Some boot camps offer rehabilitative programs such as drug and alcohol treatment, life skills training, vocational education, therapy, and general education classes. Some also provide intensive community supervision after release. For example, New York’s “shock incarceration” takes a therapeutic approach with six months of intensive incarceration in a military style boot camp that also focuses on treatment and developing life skills. Six months of intensive community supervision follows graduation.

New York, which operates four facilities with a capacity of over 3,000 inmates per year, has the largest boot camp program for sentenced felony offenders in the country. This program will be used to illustrate boot camps’ structure and daily activities. The program accepts non-violent offenders under age 35 who are sentenced to prison and eligible for parole within three years. Participants, in lieu of incarceration, spend six months in a boot camp and six months under intensive community supervision. The following is an example of a typical daily schedule taken from a boot camp.

Daily Schedule for Offenders in New York Shock Incarceration Facilities A.M.

5:30 Wake up and standing count

5:45 — 6:30 Calisthenics and drill

6:30 — 7:00 Run

7:00 — 8:00 Mandatory breakfast/cleanup

8:15 Standing count and company formation

8:30 — 11:55 Work/school schedules

P.M.

12:00 — 12:30 Mandatory lunch and standing count

12:30 — 3:30 Afternoon work/school schedule

3:30 — 4:00 Shower

4:00 — 4:45 Network community meeting

4:45 — 5:45 Mandatory dinner, prepare for evening

6:00 — 9:00 School, group counseling, drug counseling, prerelease counseling, decision making classes

9:15 — 9:30 Squad bay, prepare for bed

9:30 Standing count, lights out

While in boot camp, participants spend 31% of their time on facility and community projects. 30.3% of all people incarcerated attend substance abuse treatment programs, and other programs teaching responsibility. This includes self-responsibility, responsibility to others, and responsibility for the quality of one’s life. 10.7% all time is spent on academic education; 10% on drill and movement; 9.3% on physical training; and 8.7% attending to personal needs such as meals, religious services, visits, personal care, and homework. Substance abuse treatment is emphasized because many of the participants have a history of drug use.

After six months, participants engage in six months of intensive community supervision provided by the Division of Parole. Parole officers work closely with inmates, the inmates’ families, as well as community service agencies to develop residence and employment programs prior to release. Parole officers perform home visits, curfew checks, and drug testing.

The Division of Parole also offers a number of opportunities and programs in the community to improve the graduate’s chance for successful reintegration in the community. Graduates have priority access to community services such as educational and vocational training, employment opportunities, and relapse prevention counseling (Cronin 1994).

Cost is the next issue people really question with regard to these boot camp programs. The cost of building the facility is more. The Colorado boot camp facility costs 71.5 million for construction, alone. Furthermore, a typical adult offender in a maximum-security facility costs about seventy-nine dollars a day. A Colorado boot camp program costs approximately ninety dollars a day (Witkin 1996). It should be noted that the costs presented in this paper include the cost of counseling and the cost of the programs the inmates are involved in.

The cost is significantly higher and raises the question of opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is the willingness to give up one thing to fund another. With the rate that states need to build facilities like this, one must examine what you would have to give up. The first thing usually given up is education and road

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