Word: butner
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...first of 200 hard cases-inmates convicted of at least two crimes-will arrive next week at the new maximum security federal prison at Butner, N.C., take one look and assume they are in a play pen. No gun towers, no cell blocks, no cavernous mess halls, no barred windows. At orientation, each inmate will be given a definite date for his release and be told that much of what he does until then will be up to him, but that nothing he does will get him out any earlier. His guards will wear blazers and slacks...
...those who advocate hard-boiled treatment of repeat offenders, Butner's showcase experiment must seem like the scheme of a coddling egghead. Which is close to the mark. Mindful of the general dissatisfaction with the U.S. penal system and what it was achieving, Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Norman Carlson decided in 1972 that Butner, then in the planning stage, would be designed for new rehabilitation techniques. After bitter criticism scuttled early ideas of using transactional analysis and behavior modification, Carlson turned to the theories of Norval Morris, 52, a New Zealand-born criminal-law professor (and now dean...
...Following Morris' prescriptions and proscriptions, Butner will allow a prisoner to select from such programs as dental technician training; college, high school or literacy courses; and counseling for drug or alcohol abuse. He will be free to pass up all of them-and even to transfer to another prison after the first three months. Because the convict's release date cannot be affected by his choices, there is no incentive to "act" rehabilitated in order to win parole. His prison time will be extended, however, if an inmate is found guilty of a serious disciplinary offense...
...Butner will impose two absolute requirements: every inmate must work at a prison job and must attend regular group discussions on all aspects of prison life. Nor is the prison quite as open as it looks. The unbarred windows are made of escape-proof Lexan, the material used in airplane windows. Doors to the 7½-ft. by 9½-ft. one-man cells can be locked or not by the inmate, but from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. all outside doors of the four single-story, 50-cell buildings are bolted.*The 40-acre complex is surrounded...
...professor of psychology and brain science at MIT, said, "Behavior modification is similar to the systems of reward and punishment which prisons have used for years. It is simply more organized, with a theoretical background and more powerful techniques. They have changed the words but kept the maximum security. Butner [a federal prison which used behavioral modification theory] does not have guards but counselors, not cells but modules...