Crime Scene

New York State marked the 20th anniversary of its “Shock Incarceration” program oN Wednesday, featuring graduates and elected officials.

The six-month program is geared toward reducing prison time for criminals. The program puts the offender through of physical labor, academic education, drug treatment and personal counseling. The state claims successful graduates are released as much as 30 months early. While less than 4 percent of incarcerated offenders are shock participants, officials said, the program accounts for more than 10 percent of all offenders paroled each year.

Each graduate results in 345 days of reduced demand for prison space. Officials say the program has saved New York’s taxpayers more than $1.18 billion over 20 years – the operating and capital cost to have incarcerated those inmates for their
entire sentences.

The state marked the anniversary with a ceremony at Monterey Shock Incarceration Correctional Facility on Wednesday.

New York stated in a news released that a number of national independent research groups have rated New York’s Shock program, which began at Monterey on Sept. 10, 1987, the best in the United States. Through July, the program graduated to parole supervision 36,453 inmates 16 through 39 years of age who were convicted of non-violent crimes and were within three years of release.

Currently, four state correctional facilities offer a total of 1,410 beds (1,290 for men, 120 for women) for Shock: Monterey, Moriah (Essex County), Lakeview (Chautauqua County), and Summit (Schoharie County). And the 12-year-old Willard Drug Treatment campus in Seneca County is based on the Shock model. As of Sept. 5, there were 1,036 Shock inmates under custody, including 85 women and 54 in reception.

Department of Correctional Services Commissioner Brian Fischer, a Pearl River resident and former prison superintendent at Sing Sing, praised the program.

“Shock combines the best concepts of rehabilitation with proven success, Fischer said. “Facilities like Monterey show what can be accomplished when dedicated staff provide meaningful programs to those willing to make a change in their
lives. Shock has become the process by which hard work and positive thinking create success.”