The Medical Model and Modernization, 1960-1980

Since its inception in 1930, and particularly during the administration of Director James V. Bennett (1937-1964), the Federal Bureau of Prisons emphasized the goal of rehabilitating offenders through a series of "individualized treatment" programs that included counseling, education, vocational training, and work. The rehabilitation philosophy reached its zenith in the 1960's. The "Medical Model" - the theory that an inmate's criminal tendencies could be diagnosed and treated, almost like a physical disease - was in vogue throughout the Bureau and corrections in general. If the diagnosis showed poor socialization and inadequate work skills as the factors causing a person to turn to crime, the prescription could involve a combination of social skills counseling and vocational training. The desired result of rehabilitating the inmate was not always achieved, although Bennett frequently cited a Ford Foundation study that demonstrated a marked decline in recidivism during his years as Director.

Although primarily justified as a method for maintaining stability within BOP institutions, FPI had always played a vital role in the Bureau's rehabilitation efforts. During the "Medical Model" phase of the 1960's, FPI's rehabilitative efforts assumed greater value and visibility.

The legislative high point of the Medical Model era was passage of the Federal Prisoner Rehabilitation Act of 1965. Implemented during the administration of Bennett's successor, Myrl Alexander, the act provided for a variety of diagnostic, counseling, halfway house, study release, and work release opportunities (similar opportunities already were available to youthful offenders). FPI's job placement service acquired an important responsibility for making possible the work release provision of the new law.

Within the prisons, FPI improved its educational offerings during the 1960's. "Teaching machines," with modules in a variety of academic and vocational subjects, were distributed throughout the Bureau. New training programs were introduced in auto body repair, farm equipment repair, and other occupations. In addition, job rotation was stepped up and "cluster training" was developed, so that inmates could learn the basic skills for several related occupations at the same time.

FPI in the 1960's also sought to develop those industries that had the most training potential. The corporation expanded its electronics operations, such as electronic cable assembly for the military at the factory at USP McNeil Island. It also inaugurated industrial keypunch operations at FCI Terminal Island and FPC Alderson, opened a custom furniture factory at FPC Allenwood, and established a plastics factory at USP Terre Haute that manufactured dinnerware, trays, and chairs. Meanwhile, FPI scaled back outmoded industries with limited training value for modern job markets, such as the laundries, foundry operations, and the needle trades.

The trend of improving educational programs and developing modern industries offering valuable training experiences continued into the 1970's. A textile vocational training school opened at USP Atlanta; an Industrial Programs Division was established at FPI headquarters to develop new industrial operations providing better work and skills training; production training units appeared in 1975, to coordinate classroom training programs with on-the-job learning during actual production; and new industrial operations included key-to-tape data processing at FPC Alderson, a computer programming service at USP Leavenworth, keypunch operations at FCI Fort Worth and FCI Miami, an electronic cable factory at FCI Memphis, a wood/plastics prototype shop at FCI Petersburg, and a machine tool and die shop at USP McNeil Island.

FPC Alderson inmates take classes in keypunch operations.

Modernization occurred in other ways, as well, during the 1960's and 1970's. Capital improvements included new vocational training buildings at Alderson, Atlanta, Englewood, and Marion, a dry kiln at Ashland, the installation of steel fabricating machinery at Terminal Island, and new industrial buildings at several sites. To control environmental pollution, FPI modernized its industrial waste systems. Also, FPI began putting more disabled inmates to work in such assignments as fabricating weather balloons. Finally, with the inmate population diminishing, FPI implemented strategies to maintain production levels, such as redesigning plant layouts, obtaining new kinds of raw materials and modern machinery, devising new production methods, and introducing new product lines.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam War helped precipitate fluctuations in FPI's sales and production. As the conflict escalated in the late 1960's, FPI sales to military agencies accelerated. Increased Federal spending on the Vietnam War was offset, however, by cutbacks for FCI's non-military customers, resulting in an overall decline in FPI sales in 1969 and 1971. Sales also declined when the United States ended its involvement in the war and military purchasing was curtailed.

By the middle of the 1970's, FPI was working to moderate sales fluctuations through a greater emphasis on marketing and customer service. In 1974, it established regional marketing positions and organized the corporation into seven divisions, each of which handled resource management, production, and sales in a specific FPI industry (Automated Data Processing, Electronics, Graphics, Metals, Shoe and Brush, Textiles, and Woods and Plastics). A year later, it initiated a program to improve product quality and acceptability. Although the law required that Federal agencies purchase from FPI whenever possible, the corporation still had to compete in order to win customers.

Then in 1977, FPI introduced a new corporate logo and a new trade name: "UNICOR." Coinciding with its new image, FPI established a Corporate Marketing Office to develop nationwide marketing strategies and programs. The marketing initiatives of the middle and late 1970's presaged even greater efforts during the 1980's and 1990's to make UNICOR more responsive to customer needs and to base UNICOR's activities squarely on modern business principles.