BOOT CAMPS 'ONLY MAKE YOUNG THUGS BOLDER'

MILITARY-style "boot camp" regimes for young criminals fail to reduce
reoffending significantly but produce fitter, healthier and more
self-confident offenders, according to a report.

Many young male offenders returned to a life of crime within months of
being released from the army-style drill and discipline. Figures in the
Home Office study, published yesterday, show that initial success in
cutting reconviction rates was not sustained in the two years after release.

The findings on the camps established at the Thorn Cross Young Offender
Institution in Warrington, Cheshire, which is run by the Prison Service,
and the Military Corrective Training Centre at Colchester in Essex, run by
the Army, are disclosed in an evaluation of their regimes. The Colchester
centre was closed by the Government in March 1998.

"While it is clear that many young offenders liked being kept busy all day,
liked an army-style regime, liked sports and physical training, and became
healthier, fitter and more self-confident, none of these benefits seemed to
be followed by decreased reconviction rates," the report said.

"Certainly these regimes did not deter offending by applying tough a
'boot-camp' treatment."

Figures in the Home Office study show that 65 per cent of 176 young
offenders who joined the boot-camp regime at Thorn Cross were reconvicted
within two years of release, compared with 75 per cent of those who were
not on the regime. A year after release the comparable reconviction figures
were 35 and 55 per cent respectively.

The young offenders released from the regime committed 615 offences in the
two years after release.

The study found that 45 per cent of 61 youngsters who went on the
Colchester regime were reconvicted within two years, compared with 53 per
cent who did not go on the army-style course. But the study said that young
offenders reconvicted after leaving Colchester had committed more serious
crimes at greater cost to society.

Both austere regimes were established by Michael Howard, the former
Conservative Home Secretary, in the wake of alarm about juvenile offending
after the murder in 1993 of James Bulger, aged two, on Merseyside.

The regimes provided young offenders with days starting at 6am, which
involved dril, physical exercise and outdoor activities. Thorn Cross, but
not Colchester, included offending behaviour programmes.

Although the reoffending results were disappointing, the study shows that
aspects of the regime won the approval of young criminals and increased
their self-esteem.

The daily drill at Colchester encouraged team spirit and the youths
preferred to be involved in activities from dawn to dusk instead of sitting
on their beds doing nothing. a oeThey wore full military uniform for family
visits and many parents commented favourably on their smartness and bearing
after seeing them on parade,a the report said.

The young men also admired the army instructors, saying they were firm,
masculine role models. Many expressed a desire to join the Army, but were
unable to do so because of their serious criminal records, the report said.
All the young men took the opportunity to keep their army boots and berets
as souvenirs when they left Colchester. The cost of the training centre was
an average of AUKP15,591 a year for every inmate, compared with AUKP23,000
on the Thorn Cross regime and AUKP17,700 at a normal young offender
institution.

The results at Thorn Cross were mixed, with young men having greater
control of their aggression and higher self-esteem but an increased belief
that it was all right to offend. They were also not better behaved or more
responsible.

At Colchester the report found that young inmates had a more favourable
attitude towards staff, got on better with their fellow inmates, had less
stress and had higher self-esteem, greater physical fitness and more hope
about the future.

The regime at Thorn Cross6am: Rise, clean room, drill. 6.40am: Room
inspection. 7.20am: Drill. 8am: Breakfast. 8.30am: Skills training,
education. 12.00: Lunch. 13.00. Physical education. 14.15: Skills training,
education. 16.45: Personal hygiene. 17.00: Evening meal. 18.00: Drama, art,
drugs awareness. 20.00: Group meeting. 20.30 Earned privileges. 21.45.
Personal hygiene. 22.00: Lights out.