Boot camp prisons as masculine organizations: Rethinking recidivism and program design

Abstract

A number of studies have tested the effectiveness of boot camp prisons in reducing recidivism and results indicate that they have not been as successful as originally anticipated. While no two programs are comparable in terms of programming and treatment, most programs utilize a hypermasculine paramilitary prison structure to deter, punish, and rehabilitate. We argue that this structure is problematic in terms of the way in which it is used to instill and reinforce hypermasculine behaviors that have been found to be highly correlated with criminal behavior. After introducing the prison as a gendered organization and discussing the relationship of masculinity and crime, we review studies of boot camp prisons and relate these findings to specific masculine attributes of the boot camp to show how the organizational design may be ineffective in producing desired correctional outcomes.