The Utilization of Civilian Prisoners in Support of Base Operation Functions

Current federal budgetary reduction have presented installation commanders with the challenge of accomplishing their numerous missions with reduced resources. These reductions have significantly impacted upon base operations resulting in curtailed support and services for the military community. A common method used to alleviate this challenge is to increase the use of borrowed military manpower. However, this technique negatively impacts upon training and unit readiness. A potential manpower resource can be found in the civilian prison system. This paper explores the feasibility of the United States Army using civilian prisoners to support base operations. This paper analyzes the following issues challenges within civilian corrections, legal considerations and restrictions, current civilian prisoner work programs on other DoD Defense installations, and implementation procedures for Army installations. The conclusion being the establishment of civilian prison camps on Army installations is an innovative approach to meet the challenge of budgetary constraints while also alleviating the Federal Bureau of Prisons challenge of prisoner overcrowding.