Multi-Site Evaluation of Shock Incarceration: Executive Summary

• NCJ Number: 150736
• Author(s): D L MacKenzie
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 70 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90-DD-CX-0061
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: University of Maryland
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This multi-site evaluation examined eight adult "boot camp" prison programs.

Abstract

The evaluation examined the development and implementation of programs, the attitude changes of offenders during the in-prison phase of the program, the impact of the programs on recidivism, the impact of the program on the positive activities of graduates during community supervision, and the effect of the program on prison crowding. In all eight boot camp programs, offenders participated in a rigorous daily schedule of military drill and ceremony, physical training, and hard labor. Program length ranged from 90 to 180 days. Program participants were generally young males convicted of nonviolent offenses who did not have an extensive criminal history. Beyond these common elements, program characteristics varied, such as in the type of therapeutic programming and the hours per day given to such programming. Programs also varied in size, location (within a larger prison or separately), intensity of release supervision, and type of aftercare during community supervision. The evaluation involved interviews with correctional officers, boot camp inmates, and probation/parole agents responsible for supervising boot camp graduates. Estimated recidivism rates for boot camp graduates during the first year of community supervision were between 23 percent and 63 percent for rearrest, between 1.3 percent and 13.8 percent for new-crime revocations, and between 2.1 percent and 14.5 percent for technical-violation revocations. These rates were similar to comparable offenders who spent a longer time in prison. In the three States (New York, Illinois, Louisiana) where boot camp graduates had lower recidivism rates on one measure of recidivism, the in-prison phase of the boot camp was followed by a 6-month intensive supervision phase in the community. The more intensely offenders were supervised in the community, the better they adjusted. The models that examined the effect of the boot camps on prison crowding did not support the theory that prison crowding would be reduced through a reduction in recidivism. Prison crowding is reduced only when a sufficient number of prison-bound offenders complete the boot camp program in less time than they would otherwise serve in a conventional prison. Tabular data, figures, and 33 references