The Cook County Sheriff’s Boot Camp is located in an urban setting adjacent to the Cook County Department of Corrections complex. It is designed to provide non–violent offenders a strict detention program based on military discipline, fundamental vocational skills, education and alcohol/substance abuse treatment. In addition, the Boot Camp features an 8–month long post-release supervision program where participants must return to the Boot Camp on a daily basis to continue educational programming.
In order to be eligible for the boot camp, participants must be between the ages of 17 and 35, must have never committed a violent or sex–related crime, and must not have served more than one term in state prison. All offenders chosen for the Boot Camp must plead guilty to their charges and agree to placement in the program. Participants undergo a medical and psychological assessment before they are admitted.
Public
Safety Impact
The Boot Camp program is succeeding in its mission to rehabilitate young adult offenders. A curriculum of military discipline, education, anger management, substance abuse counseling, and job readiness skills shapes an individual who returns to his community with the tools to succeed. Over 4,000 inmates have completed the one-year program. The five-year recidivism rate is 30%. That means that five-years after completing the Boot Camp program, 7 out of every 10 graduates do not return to state prison.
History
Sheriff Michael F. Sheahan began developmental discussions for the Boot Camp in 1992. A change in state legislation allowed the county to begin an impact incarceration program for persons who would otherwise be sentenced to prison. The Boot Camp opened in 1997 and when he took office in 2007, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart pledged to continue the Boot Camp’s mission of comprehensive rehabilitation. Under Sheriff Dart’s guidance, the Boot Camp’s mission is expanding to include a carpentry program and being named an official G.E.D. testing site.
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