NCJ Number
144181
Date Published
1993
Length
72 pages
Annotation
The U.S. General Accounting Office surveyed prison boot camps across the country to determine whether they were effective in reducing correction system costs, prison overcrowding, and inmate recidivism, and what potential the boot camp concept holds for Federal prisons.
Abstract
These camps generally target young, nonviolent, first- time offenders, subjecting them to a regimen similar to military basic training. Boot camp programs consist of precision drills, physical exercise, hard labor, close discipline, substance abuse treatment, counseling, and education. Twenty-six States now operate 57 prison boot camps, with a total capacity for 8,800 inmates. The evidence suggests that the camps reduce costs and prison overcrowding because inmates are released earlier, not because the camps cost less per inmate. Early data show only marginal improvements in recidivism rates between boot camp participants and other inmates; even these differences seem to diminish over time. As presently structured, the Federal boot camp program is too small to have any appreciable effect on reducing overall costs, overcrowding, or recidivism in the Federal prison system. 8 tables and 9 appendixes