NCJ Number
137345
Journal
Village Voice Volume: 35 Issue: 21 Dated: (May 22, 1990) Pages: 32-34,36-38,40-41
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The 250-bed Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility in Summit, New York became the only one of New York's five boot camps to accept women in 1988.
Abstract
The facility teaches women integrity, discipline and control, when and how to salute, military bearing, courage, and drilling ceremony. Shock incarceration is available only to nonviolent, first-time felony offenders between 16 and 29 years of age whose minimum sentence is 3 years or less. More than 80 percent of shock inmates are drug offenders; the rest have been convicted of embezzlement, forgery, or burglary. If the female offender survives 6 months of shock incarceration, she is immediately eligible for parole. Since New York's first shock platoon graduated in 1988, the State has saved $55.6 million in construction costs for new prisons and shortened sentences. The recidivism rate for New York shock alumni is about 5 percent better than for the general parole population, although shock graduates return at about the same 18- to 20-percent rate as those who are shock-eligible, but choose hard time instead. Despite its positive aspects, shock incarceration remains a questionable alternative to the traditional penitentiary. Shock incarceration in New York combines physical and mental stress with intensive drug and alcohol counseling, group therapy, and high school classes 2 nights and 1 full day a week. Operations at the Summit facility and reactions of female program participants are detailed. 5 photographs