New Jersey bucks trend of correctional boot camps' demise

Cadets drill as if they are in the military

March 11, 2000
Web posted at: 10:00 p.m. EST (0300 GMT)

In this story: A popular alternative comes under fire Job skills training is included RELATED STORIES, SITES

From Correspondent Frank Buckley

NEW LISBON, New Jersey (CNN) -- In a rural part of New Jersey, young criminal offenders drill as if they are in the military.

The atmosphere is to provide a framework of structure and discipline, New Jersey corrections officials say. And it is a scene that will be played out repeatedly in the future, they maintain.

VIDEO CNN's Frank Buckley investigates boot camp for young criminals in New Jersey, an idea that many other states have abandoned. Windows Media 28K 80K

Bucking a nationwide trend to close down correctional boot camps, New Jersey says its program for adult and youth criminal offenders is a success. They are committed to keeping it. They say their comprehensive approach to boot camps, including a post-graduation after-care program, works.

"What we are talking about here is understanding the negativity that they (offenders) come to us with, figuring out a way to change it and then, of course, setting out to change it," said Jack Terhune, a New Jersey corrections commissioner.

The so-called boot camp approach to treating offenders first became popular in the United States in the 1980s. The programs emphasized military-style discipline, with offenders asked to drill like soldiers.

Goodwin argues the program is 'about changing someone's attitudes and beliefs and behaviors'

Georgia started the trend with a program in 1983 that placed offenders into a relatively short period of incarceration in a quasi-military environment, followed by a period of supervision in the community. A similar system for youths was introduced in 1992.

Today, about 50 juvenile boot camps operate across the U.S., but allegations of brutality have mounted and lawsuits related to juvenile boot camps are pending in a number of states, including Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.

Many programs have ended as critics point to studies that they seem to be having little impact.

"Almost without exception, the outcome of studies of boot camps find that kids do no better having gone through the boot camp," said Todd Clear, of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "In fact, they might even do worse."

But New Jersey corrections commissioner Terhune disputes such studies.

"Our recidivism rate after three years of only 27 percent I think speaks for itself," he said. Terhune said the added cost, about $10 more per day per cadet than in a traditional prison setting, is worth it.

Critics say more in-depth research of the repeat-offender rate is necessary.

States such as New Jersey that have retained boot camps say their programs are second- and third-generation descendants of the original programs. Many states have symbolically replaced the term "youth boot camp" with softer phrases, such as "youth leadership academy."

The New Jersey program includes classroom learning and substance abuse counseling, job skills training and a reorienting of the mindsets of young men whose previous role models may have been older criminals.

"We think it's about building self-esteem," said education supervisor Bernard Goodwin. "The program is about change. It's about changing someone's attitudes and beliefs and behaviors."

Added boot camp superintendent George Robinson: "We look at ourselves not just as a job here, but also as mentors, as role models."

Meanwhile, cadets at the New Jersey boot camp are being taught a new way of thinking. Young men like Darryl Bishop say another motto ingrained in them here keeps them going.

"It's one that says 'People who care don't let you off the hook.' So I'm taking that," he said.

"That's my motto. I'm going to go out there and be a productive citizen, sir."

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