NCJ Number
166501
Journal
Journal of Correctional Education Volume: 47 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1996) Pages: 140-146
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study evaluates the success of a shock incarceration (boot camp) educational program in improving inmates' academic functioning and identifies characteristics of inmates who responded favorably to this intervention.
Abstract
Shock incarceration, commonly referred to as boot camp, is a structured intensive 30- to 180-day incarceration designed for young, nonviolent, first-time offenders. Characteristics of the programs vary widely throughout the United States, but they typically require participation in a military regimen of marching, drills, rigorous exercise, maintenance of living quarters, and various work assignments. Despite the increasing prevalence of boot camp programs across local, State, and Federal correctional settings, there has been little identification of the program elements that facilitate favorable outcomes and the inmates who are more likely to benefit from these components. This study addresses three specific questions: (1) Are inmates in a boot camp program more likely to successfully complete a General Education Development (GED) program than a comparison group of inmates not participating in a boot camp program? (2) Can boot camp participants attaining the GED diploma be distinguished on initial cognitive or personality/psychopathology measures from those who did not? and (3) Does participation in, and successful completion of, a GED program by boot camp cadets generalize to gains on other measures of academic performance? Tables, references