DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02698.v1
title: Evaluation of the First Incarceration Shock Treatment (FIST) Program for Youthful Offenders in Kentucky, 1993-1994
title: Version 1

description: Boot camps, a popular alternative to incarceration, are characterized by a strong emphasis on military structure, drill, and discipline and by an abbreviated period of incarceration. Originally designed for young, adult, male offenders convicted of nonviolent crimes, boot camps have been expanded to encompass juveniles and women as well. In 1992 the Bureau of Justice Assistance funded three agencies to develop correctional boot camps for young offenders, and simultaneously, the National Institute of Justice supported an evaluation of these camps. By October 1993 the only operational boot camp of the three selected sites was the Kentucky Department of Corrections' First Incarceration Shock Treatment (FIST) program. This data collection is an evaluation of the first 18 months of operation of FIST from July 1993 through December 1994. The primary goal of this evaluation was to document the development of the Kentucky boot camp, the characteristics and experiences of the youthful offenders participating in it, and any changes in participants' attitudes and behaviors as a result of it. The evaluation consisted of an extensive case study, supplemented by pre- and post-test comparisons of boot camp offenders' attitudes, physical fitness, and literacy skills, descriptive information about their engagement in legitimate activities during aftercare, and an assessment of the rates, timing, and sources of program attrition. Variables in this collection include entrance and exit dates, sentence, crime type and class, pre- and post-program test scores in math, reading, and language skills, and demographic variables such as age, race, sex, and marital status.
description: Boot camps, a popular alternative to incarceration, are characterized by a strong emphasis on military structure, drill, and discipline and by an abbreviated period of incarceration. Originally designed for young, adult, male offenders convicted of nonviolent crimes, boot camps have been expanded to encompass juveniles and women as well. In 1992 the Bureau of Justice Assistance funded three agencies to develop correctional boot camps for young offenders, and simultaneously, the National Institute of Justice supported an evaluation of these camps. By October 1993 the only operational boot camp of the three selected sites was the Kentucky Department of Corrections' First Incarceration Shock Treatment (FIST) program. This data collection is an evaluation of the first 18 months of operation of FIST from July 1993 through December 1994. The primary goal of this evaluation was to document the development of the Kentucky boot camp, the characteristics and experiences of the youthful offenders participating in it, and the changes in participants' attitudes and behaviors.
description: FIST is located on the grounds of the Roederer Correctional Complex in LaGrange, Kentucky. It is a 127-day program offered to male and female inmates who have at least four months remaining to parole eligibility and who have a maximum sentence of ten years. The rigorous daily schedule includes physical training and conditioning, individualized academic programs, a substance abuse program, a living skills program, work details, community meetings, and military drills and ceremonies. The evaluation consisted of an extensive case study, supplemented by pre- and post-programs comparisons of boot camp offenders' attitudes, physical fitness, and literacy skills, descriptive information about their engagement in legitimate activities during aftercare, and an assessment of the rates, timing, and sources of program attrition. Data were collected using five instruments: (1) FIST Program Questionnaire, which gathered demographic and family background data at the point of entry to FIST, (2) Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE), administered upon entry and exit to measure reading, writing, and math skills, (3) FM20-21 Army Physical Fitness Test, which gathered information on muscle endurance and cardiorespiratory fitness monthly for four months, (4) Exit Questionnaire, which collected data on disciplinary history, awards, fitness scores, and opinions of the program and was administered upon completion of the program, and (5) Parole Questionnaire for Participants, which measured jobs, education, and opinions about the program six months into aftercare. In addition to these instruments, information was coded from the Department of Corrections computerized database, including committing offense, sentence, parole eligibility dates, and conditional release dates.
description: Variables include FIST entry and exit dates, pre- and post-program scores on reading, math, and language skills, committing offense type and class, sentence length, and reason for program termination. Demographic variables include age, sex, race, and marital status.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Standardized missing values.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Presence of Common Scales: None
description: Response Rates: Not applicable
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS1: Dataset
description: Due to a data collection error, most of the data collected for this study were not preserved in electronic format. The variables present in this collection were hand-calculated by the principal investigators.
The same principal investigators conducted other boot camp evaluations under the same grant from the National Institute of Justice. The scope and methods of the other evaluations differed significantly from this Kentucky study, and therefore they are archived under a different study number. Users should consult EVALUATION OF BOOT CAMPS FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS IN CLEVELAND, DENVER, AND MOBILE, 1992-1993 (ICPSR 6922) for further information about these evaluations.
description: Youthful nonviolent offenders in Kentucky.
description: Eight cohorts of participants entering FIST in 1993 and 1994.