NCJ Number
174139
Date Published
1997
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This report provides recommendations for the implementation and development of a boot camp model designed as a jail and prison diversion program for nonviolent adult males.
Abstract
The Living in a Free Environment (LIFE) Camp correctional boot camp model provides an intermediate sanction as an alternative to incarceration for nonviolent offenders in the Virgin Islands. The programs emphasize law and order, discipline, education, treatment, and aftercare. LIFE Camp seeks to reduce overcrowding in the territory's correctional facilities by diverting prison-bound offenders. The LIFE Camp is designed for nonviolent offenders, thereby providing additional bed space in the traditional correctional setting for violent offenders. The program of the LIFE Camp is designed in accordance with the mission statement, goals, and objectives to provide long-term solutions to problems that involve prison overcrowding in the Virgin Islands. Generally, boot camps involve an intense and regimented period of incarceration, followed by supervision in the community. A military-style structure governs daily activities, rules, and discipline that is intended to instill responsibility and conventional attitudes and values. Although it is designed as a punishment that deters recidivism, it has the potential of improving participants' quality of life. As an intermediate sanction, the development of a boot camp in the Virgin Islands should enable the Bureau of Corrections to manage its tasks more efficiently. A 39-item selected bibliography, appended related data, and authorizing legislation