NCJ Number
125204
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 52 Issue: 4 Dated: (July 1990) Pages: 144,146,148-151,169
Date Published
1990
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Butler Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility (New York) is part of the newest fad in corrections -- boot camp-style prisons.
Abstract
Eligible to attend are first-time felons between the ages of 16 and 29 doing their first time in State prison. New York inmates are sent to the shock camp for a 6-month term and if they make it through -- about 88 percent do -- they win parole, no matter how long a sentence they received from a judge. At Butler Shock about 90 percent of the inmates dealt or used drugs. The inmates' day, starting at 5:30 a.m., begins with an hour of strenuous calisthenics in the early-morning dark and moves through work, military drilling, drug counseling, and study. Meals last 8 minutes and there is no talking. The inmates never look someone in the eye; they stop and stand at attention when they approach an official. They ask permission to speak; they call themselves "This inmate." Inmates work outside the camp from about 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. four days a week. The fifth day they go to classes. There is no work on Saturday and Sunday, but inmates stay busy with the rest of the routine plus organized recreation. Upon successful completion of the program, inmates receive certificates of graduation and parole papers.