Inmates are housed in a renovated dormitory, separated from the main building where most inmates are incarcerated. Drilling and other physical activities are held in an adjoining gymnasium or on the Lawrence grounds. Classes take place in the gym. Cousins said his staff selects offenders who might benefit from the camp's structured environment, typically younger inmates serving sentences for assaults or malicious destruction of property. Many have been incarcerated before.
Participation is voluntary.
They also could be placed in a halfway house, monitored with an electronic device. More drilling follows, as do classes in subjects ranging from parenting to arts, high school equivalency instruction, and substance-abuse issues, with breaks for meals in the mess hall. The entire ''platoon'' mobilizes periodically on community work projects, such as removing roadside litter. As with military boot camps, inmates endure not only grueling physical demands but the harangues of drill instructors. Still, the camp has an almost poignant soft side, such as a morning routine in which inmates learn a new song.