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| Military-style programs at prisons discontinued |
| By The Patriot-News |
| Published: 05/16/2005 |
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The U.S. Bureau of Prisons is calling a halt to its military-style boot camp program. More than 3,600 inmates have graduated from the Intensive Confinement Center at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary since it opened in late 1990. But the 68 inmates due to complete the program in July will be the last. Inmates who complete the boot camp program get reduced sentences. After graduation, they are assigned to community correction facilities where they have the opportunity to obtain furloughs. The camp at Lewisburg, Pa., was the first in the nation. The bureau runs another boot camp for men in Lompoc, Calif., and one for women in Bryan, Texas. Both of them are being closed. The director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Harley G. Lappin, wrote in a memo earlier this year that he decided to close the boot camps because of the costs and because studies showed the program had not reduced recidivism as anticipated. "I think everyone knew going in it was going to cost money," said James Wade, chief public defender for the U.S. Middle District. Wade said he is unhappy with the decision because it removes a placement option for convicted criminals. But Lappin said the costs of running the camps far exceed those of minimum-security camps. The Bureau of Prisons expects to save more than $1 million annually by closing the camps, he said. In the program, known as "shock incarceration," inmates are given military-style haircuts, wear prison uniforms, work in a highly structured atmosphere six days a week, attend educational programs and march. Lights go out at 10 p.m., and family visits and use of the telephone are restricted to Sundays. The facility at Lewisburg will be converted into minimum-security beds after the last class graduates, a spokeswoman said. The staff, including the 26 at Lewisburg, will be offered other positions within the Bureau of Prisons, she said. |
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