NCJ Number
132640
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 53 Issue: 1 Dated: special issue (February 1991) Pages: 32-38
Date Published
1991
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The article describes the marine program at the Fort Smallwood Marine Institute where juveniles receive one last chance to turn their lives around and most do.
Abstract
The procedures, policies, and goals of this juvenile offender marine program are described. The Fort Smallwood Marine Institute is near Baltimore, Md. and is one of 24 juvenile rehabilitation programs affiliated with Associated Marine Institutes, Inc., a non-profit organization founded in Florida in 1969. The Fort Smallwood branch opened in April 1988 and operates under contract from the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. The program is described in detail from numbers of juveniles involved to examples of daily routines, how the staff is selected, and the goals of the director and of the program. Underlying the program's point system is the juveniles' understanding that if they do not succeed, they are likely to wind up in prison or dead. Since the program opened, about 225 youths have completed the program. Program officials say that the recidivism rate is between 20 and 30 percent.