NCJ Number
172578
Journal
Governing Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: November 1997 Pages: 40-41
Date Published
1997
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article identifies the flaws in most boot camp programs and suggests how these programs might become more cost-effective.
Abstract
During the past few years, boot camps have shut down in States ranging from California to New Hampshire, reversing a trend that began in the early 1980s when tougher mandatory sentencing led to prison overcrowding. Since then, 36 States and the Federal Bureau of Prisons have established more than 50 adult boot camps nationwide. In addition, 6 States and approximately 12 counties have designed this type of facility for juvenile offenders. Boot camps, however, have been beset by high recidivism rates, excessive costs, and competition from other correctional programs. A fundamental problem, according to experts, is that many boot camps lack both in-facility rehabilitation and aftercare services. Corrections experts assert that years of dysfunctional social patterns can only be changed through education, job training, counseling, and other forms of remedial assistance. The militaristic regimes of boot camps may help in behavior modification, but only as one component of a more comprehensive program. Further, boot camps are cost- effective only if they house people who otherwise would have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Judges have failed to meet this criteria in many cases by sentencing to boot camp offenders who usually would be given probation. Thus, there was no impact on the prison population. Colorado officials addressed this problem by having the courts sentence a criminal to the Department of Corrections, whose officials then decide which offenders are suitable for boot camp. Colorado also has an aftercare program that has contributed to making its adult boot camp one of the most successful in the Nation.