Boot Camp Has Few Successes:
Of 740 Youths to Complete the Program from 1993 to 2005, Only 74
Weren't Arrested Again
By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published March 11, 2006
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ST. PETERSBURG - Nine of 10 youths sent to the
Pinellas County boot camp end up where they started: back in
custody.
"Are we really being effective in what we're
trying to do?" asked Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats. "Somewhere, there's
a breakdown in the system here."
A study Coats requested shows that 666 of the
740 youths who attended the camp from November 1993 to November 2005
were arrested after completing the program. Of those, 607 were
convicted or given some form of juvenile judgment.
Coats said he is disappointed but not ready to
shut down the program, located near the county jail on 49th Street.
Instead, the sheriff wants to set up a
residential facility to temporarily house boot camp graduates,
rather than return them to communities where they first committed
crimes.
In a few months, he said, he intends to
approach the Pinellas County Commission with a proposal.
Commissioner Bob Stewart said he was stunned
that so many boot camp graduates went on to commit more crimes. He
said the idea of a residential facility was a good one, but wants to
know how much it would cost.
"I can see the advantage of such a plan,"
Stewart said. But such a residential facility, he added, "could be a
very expensive proposition."
The boot camp already costs about $2.7-million
a year. The state pays almost $2-million of that. The county pays
the rest, nearly $762,000.
Florida boot camps have been under increasing
scrutiny since the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson on Jan.
6, a day after he was roughed up by guards at the Bay County camp.
A surveillance video showed that a half-dozen
guards punched, kneed and restrained the youth, who complained of
breathing difficulties during the enrollment procedure.
The Bay County medical examiner ruled that
Martin did not die as a result of those blows, but family members
and other authorities have disputed that finding.
Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober is
investigating and Anderson's body was exhumed Friday in preparation
for a second autopsy in Tampa on Monday.
The Pinellas boot camp houses juvenile male
offenders ages 14 to 18 who have at least one felony conviction and
are designated a moderate risk. The Pinellas boot camp has handled
48 to 102 recruits a year since 1999.
The state, which tracks youths for a year after
they finish boot camp, said 61 percent of the youths who attended
the Pinellas boot camp in 2003-04 were subsequently convicted of
another crime or given some form of criminal judgment.
That was the worst recidivism rate among the
state's boot camps. In previous years, Pinellas has ranked near the
middle.
Many graduates of the Pinellas camp end up in
jail. About 52 percent of them are charged with a felony. Often,
they're in trouble for violent crimes or crimes involving property
and drugs.
Steven Chapman, a juvenile justice researcher
and program evaluator, said the state's boot camps did have some
success in turning around youths.
In 2003-04, for example, the state's boot camps
had a total recidivism rate of 41 percent. That same year, by
comparison, halfway houses for moderate-risk youths had a recidivism
rate of 44 percent.
The Pinellas boot camp puts youths in
"platoons" of 10 to 15 who attend classes that stress discipline.
The program also includes a "transition" phase that prepares them to
return to the community, and a conditional release program through
which they go home to families under the supervision of boot camp
staffers.
Hunter Hurst, a senior research assistant at
the National Center for Juvenile Justice, said boot camps were
created out of the belief that giving youths an intense experience
would affect them in ways that a halfway house would not.
But Hurst said it was difficult to find studies
that proved whether boot camps had much success in helping kids who
were in trouble.
"I think boot camps are misguided," Hurst said.
"There are other experiences - like wilderness camps, for example -
that could be more constructive."
Other experts point to horror stories of youths
who went to boot camps and then landed in even worse trouble.
Consider the case of Brian Hickman.
After charges of robbery, battery, resisting
arrest with violence and possession of drug paraphernalia, Brian
Hickman was ordered into the Pinellas boot camp in 2001. The
Sheriff's Office said he was well-behaved in the program.
But in 2002, Hickman, 16, became drunk and
belligerent. Police officers eventually arrived after Hickman
grabbed a knife and scissors and talked about attacking people.
After a struggle, Hickman was shot and killed by a police officer.
Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this
report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com
or 727 893-8472.
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